Rules of Betrayal

Christopher Reich had written a number of solid stand-alone works that earned him the title "the John Grisham of Wall Street" by the New York Times before he turned his hand to series writing and international espionage. His Ransom characters, introduced in RULES OF DECEPTION, have been fascinating from their inception. Jonathan Ransom is a selfless physician who has worked with an organization known as Doctors Without Borders, foregoing the monetary compensation he could have received in a private medical practice for a spiritual one. His wife, Emma, had assisted him in this endeavor, yet she was not who she seemed to be. Rather, she was (and is) a spy and assassin named Lara Antonova, who used Jonathan's medical practice as a cover for her own activities. Her betrayal of Jonathan and the effect it has had upon both of them, and their relationship, has been played out over the course of two novels, revealing new and unexpected sides of their personalities. Jonathan, good works notwithstanding, has a dark side to him, one that he attempts to simultaneously submerge and atone for, sometimes succeeding, oftentimes failing. Emma/Lara, for all of her deception, truly loves Jonathan. And though she has used her considerable sensuality on him (and others) with a sinister twist, the depth of her feeling for him cannot be denied, even when she risks everything to reveal it, as shown near the conclusion of RULES OF VENGEANCE, the second book in the series. While sequels of great books are often disappointing, Reich has been on an upward trajectory since the introduction of the Ransoms into the world of fiction, and this arc continues with RULES OF BETRAYAL. The novel begins along three paths that start converging early on. A top-secret weapon, lost nearly three decades ago in the mountains of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, becomes the object of a deadly race involving two of the world's superpowers and one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. Meanwhile, Jonathan is doing personal penance for past actions and is on his own in a Taliban-controlled area of Afghanistan, performing medical miracles under circumstances where his skill and bravery are tested to the utmost. When he is abducted while in the middle of a pediatric reconstructive surgery to treat a patient who is far less worthy of his talents and compassion, it sets a series of wheels in motion that won't resolve themselves until close to the end of the story. And Emma is caught in the crosshairs as a clandestine mission she is on goes horribly wrong due to her betrayal by someone in the Division, the U.S. intelligence agency for which she ostensibly works. Frank Connor, the head of the Division, is aware of Jonathan's darker abilities; after Jonathan is extracted from dire circumstances in a daring, hair's-breadth rescue, Connor recruits Jonathan to rescue Emma and recover the lost weapon. Jonathan's adversaries in this pursuit are Lord Balfour, a violent and sadistic arms dealer who is p

Christopher Reich has given us a fast-moving thriller in RULES OF BETRAYAL.The action is believable yet still exciting. The principal characters are a bit unpredictable, but always interesting. Today's suspense novels travel worldwide and especially to Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. These latter countries did not figure significantly in American spy thrillers until the last two decades. One can hope that the word pictures painted of Muslims will not become totally negative and stereotypical. Muslims are typically those bent on destroying us. Certainly Islamists are bent on our demise, but not all Muslims are Islamists-radicals and terrorists.If you enjoy thrilling novels involving a quickened heart rate, then you will no doubt enjoy RULES OF BETRAYAL.

Rules of Betrayal is the third novel featuring characters Emma and Jonathan Ranson following Rules of Vengeance and Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich; however, if I did not know better, I would have thought that this was a stand alone novel. Although this was my first exposure to this author it will not be the last. From the onset, the author grabs and takes the reader on a rollercoaster thriller/espionage ride which does not stop until the final page is turned. A Russian, Emma, aka Lara Antonova, is a double agent for both Igor Inanov, the chief of the Russia security service, the FSB and a secret American spy organization called Division headed up by the picture of bad health, 59 year old Frank Conner and his fit deputy Peter Erskine in Falls Church, "Virginia. Jonathan, a doctor and Emma's husband for the past eight years learns for the first time three months ago that his wife is a Russian whose real name is Lara and that she married him because of his job with Doctors Without Borders which provided her with cover and got her into "politically sensitive spots in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe so she could carry out her missions--bombings, extortion and assassination." Seeking absolution and penance for his part in mayhem, Jonathan leaves Doctors Without Borders and sets out alone to treat the poor deep in" the Taliban-controlled Lashkar province of Afghanistan." Still in love with his estranged spy wife, Emma, Conner uses that vulnerability to recruit Jonathan, have him trained by an Israeli operative named Danni and sends him on a suicide mission to prevent terrorists from obtaining and using a weapon of mass destruction against the United States. First of the three main bad guys is 32 year old Prince Rashid, the twelfth son of the sitting President of the United Arab Emirates, Crown Prince Ali-al-Nayan. Next, American hater, opium dealer, terrorist and ruthless mass murderer Sheik Haq is the son and brother of equally crazed fanatics' hell bent on making a name for themselves by outshining Mohammed through deeds death and destruction. "Bastard son of a Muslim mother and British father, brought up in the City of Joy, Bombay's worst slum," 52 year old Ashok Belfour Armitraj a.k.a. "Lord Balfour" rounds out the evil trilogy as a ruthless killer and Pakistan billionaire international narcotics and arms dealer looking for his biggest score, the procurement and sale of a 150 Kiloton nuclear warhead with 10 times the explosive power of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. This 342-page international espionage suspense thriller keeps the reader on chair's edge rapidly flipping pages from beginning to end. After reading this novel, I agree with author James Patterson, "Christopher Reich is one of my favorite suspense writers." I think you will enjoy it too.

Rules of Betrayal continues the story of Dr. Jonathan Ransom, his wife Emma and a shadowy section of the intelligence community called Division. Set primarily in Afganistan it follows Dr. Ransom who has left Doctors Without Borders, to operate as a solo doctor in rural Afganistan. He has a strong sense of trying to atone for his sins, and perhaps forget the ways he has been betrayed by his wife and she by her country. As he becomes sucked into the intelleigence community, he finds out more about his wife (much of what he thought was wrong) and much about his own twisted psyche. Ransom is paired with an Israeli agent to be trained for his mission, then he is reinserted into Afganistan to track down a notorious arms dealer and to stop the sale of a nuclear weapon to terrorists. The action is written well, many twists and turns, and is complicated when he finds his wife is in the company of the arms dealer he is meeting. The movement to climax is non stop, easy to follow, but full of surprises. An excellent novel, Reich seems to have a franchise on his hands, much like the Smiley series by John LeCarre. I'm anxious to see what else he does with these characters, but also i look forward to seeing him work in a different context. He is an exceptional writer and readers won't be disappointed in Rules of Betrayal.

In Zabul Province, Afghanistan Dr. Jonathan Ransom of Doctors Without Borders is providing medical care to the locals when a Taliban assault occurs. He is air lifted out of the deadly firefight. However, Jonathan learns from his assistant Hamid who secretly works for the American top secret agency Division that his wife Emma also known in some circles as Lara Antonova, who may be one of their operatives, is in trouble. He knows how capable a killer his Emma is so Jonathan has problems accepting the assertion, but refuses to ignore the possibility. Apparently Emma has done something to anger a Taliban brutal operative The "Hawk" and thwart fuming arms dealer Lord Balfour. The Division fears Emma has gone rogue somewhere in the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In fact she has found a B-52 that crashed in 1980 carrying a nuclear bomb that she has taken with her. Everyone from the infamous Indian war dealer to the deadly Taliban terrorist to the Division and even the Russians' FSB head to Lashkar Province seek to take the bomb from Emma-Lara; except Jonathan who seeks to extract his wife from being in the eye of the storm. The third Ransom Rules (see Rules of Vengeance and Rules of Deception) is a superb espionage thriller as Jonathan who wants nothing to do with Division or spying is back in the field worried about his mysterious spouse. Readers learn much more about enigmatic Emma's background as she operates with rules in which trust and rely on no one as they will betray you. Jonathan is pulled between saving his wife and securing the bomb, which leaves readers anxiously awaiting the fate of the nuke in his next thriller. Harriet Klausner