Shadow of Betrayal: A Jonathan Quinn Novel

Dull beyond words

This third installment in the Cleaner series is the best so far. Battles' knack for detailed and accurate description make the readers feel as if they inhabit the characters, whether it's Quinn, the smooth Bond-like protagonist, or a new addition, Marion, a U.N. worker who finds she must rescue an African child from certain death. Why the terrorists are after the child is a question raised early in the story and keeps the reader turning pages. Quinn's protégé Nate is back, bearing the wounds of the last job, and so is Orlando, Quinn's provocative girlfriend. For any reader who has read the previous books in the series ("The Cleaner" and "The Deceived)," the reward is detecting the nuances in their interaction, as if watching a reunion of old friends. But ultimately, the thrill is in the ride that veers so dangerously close to the edge and then pulls back out to safety just at the right moment. Battles' skillfulness at character combined with his sharp sense of pacing add up to a terrifically smart thriller.

This series just gets stronger and stronger with each installment. Quinn is one of my favorite characters and he doesn't disappoint in this book. The suspense is relentless, the action is believable, and I, for one, can't wait for the next book! And I love, love, love Orlando!

Brett Battles is the next big thing. I've been with him from the beginning. His Jonathan Quinn novels just keep getting better and better. With each new installment we learn more about Quinn's posse--his lover, Orlando and his cleaner-in-training, Nate, and with each novel we see the larger architectonics of Battles' overarching saga as we return to old villains, old organizations and old debts that need to be repaid. In Shadow of Betrayal Quinn is attempting to break up what appears to be a terrorist plot, a particularly nasty one, involving the use of children and explosives. Set in Ireland, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, China Lake, Africa and Morro Bay, the plot is both complex in its structure and simple in its conception. Orlando's nemesis, Tucker, is back, though I can't promise that he'll make it through the last reel. The key to a Battles novel is the integration of a series of scenes, each of which involves suspense. Sometimes the suspense involves action, sometimes claustrophobia, sometimes ticking time bombs. The result is a breakneck pace that is only exceeded by Lee Child. All three of Battles' novels are excellent; Shadow of Betrayal may well be the best, with special points for an ending which ties up the loose ends, satisfies, but still looks ahead to new elements in a continuing story. If you're ready for a sleepless night I can't think of a better way of spending it. Highly recommended.

In his three Jonathan Quinn novels, Brett Battles definitely has demonstrated that he belongs on center stage with the great suspense/thriller writers of today. Each of the three, "The Cleaner", "The Deceived", and now, "Shadow Of Betrayal" demonstrate Battles' ability to write highly literate, tightly plotted novels that grab the reader from the first chapter and leave him/her exhausted from the frenetic fast-paced action. The reader gets caught up in the action and prose to such an extent that time passes relentlessly yet almost unknowingly. In "Shadow Of Betrayal", Quinn is still working off his debt to Peter and "The Office" when things spin out of control. A "cleaner" usually watches and observes unless called upon to clean up a mess that unexpectedly occurs--a clean up that might include removing evidence and clues or might include taking physical action. After a failed assignment in Ireland, Quinn is ordered to find Marion Dupuis, a UN aide, who is on the run from kidnappers with a five-year-old African child with Down syndrome. Quinn and his small but deadly crew of Nate, his protege, and Orlando, his lover as well as an assassin, follow Marion's trail from Montreal, to Washington, D.C., to New York and ultimately to the desert and coast of California. Along the way, old nemeses reappear and, as usual, politics in Washington get in the way. Who is stealing developmentally disabled children and why? What is that shadowy organization, LP, doing in the center of things? Who is playing and manipulating whom in this thriller that contains mysteries within mysteries? It all leads to a diabolically evil plot that many readers may find disturbing in its callousness. Battles' books can stand strongly on their plotting, pacing, and action. yet I find his style progressing with each effort particularly with the increased attention to characterization. Quinn, Nate, and Orlando have each evolved over the course of the three novels and their characters have become fully fleshed and are characters the reader really cares about. Suffice it to say that Quinn and Orlando are not people you want chasing you or seeking vengeance against you...yet they have become people this reader cares for. I strongly recommend this novel as well as the entire series.