The Orpheus Deception

After a bit of a slow start, this one really gets rolling and does not disappoint. Really, how much better could it be than Echelon Vendetta? How much more entertaining can Micah Dalton be? Apparently, much better. But where were the editors when it came time to vet Gospic's market manipulation plan? Sadly for the reader, Gospic gets it exactly backwards and obviously so, adding a needless distraction at the end to an otherwise sterling effort.

THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION is an excellent thriller, beautifully written, and you really care about these characters, but you really do need to read THE ECHELON VENDETTA first; otherwise, things can be a tad confusing. Treat yourself. You won't be disappointed.

David Stone is an incredible author. He is good at characterizations, he's good at plot, he's good at plot twist, he's good at setting the atmosphere and he's good at keeping the reader in suspense. His first book featuring Micah Dalton, The Echelon Vendetta, was superb, and so is this one. Orpheus Deception picks up where Echelon Vendetta leaves off. I won't go into detail in case someone reads this and hasn't read the first book (but you do really really want to read it). It begins with another attempt on Dalton's life, again in Italy, which is thwarted in the nick of time. From there, an agent from London comes to him with an assignment: he is to somehow release an ex-agent, a Brendan Fitch, who is rotting away in a prison in Singapore. Fitch had signed on as a member of the crew for a tanker called the Mingo Dubai, which was boarded and taken by pirates. However, the Singapore government insists that it sunk, and that Brendan was drunk at the time it happened, thereby causing it. But what's worse for poor Fitch is that his jailers have discovered that he's an agent -- and he has to be retrieved before they can torture any info from him. If this was the entire story, it would still be good, but it's not, by a long shot! This is just the very beginning of an incredible adventure. Never a dull moment, lots of cliffhanging, and action, action action. I loved this book, I love this author, and I absolutely cannot wait until he comes out with another one. Recommended for those who enjoy a bit of intrigue and some incredible action

Precious little is known about author David Stone (a pseudonym) other than that he has engaged in a series of honorable careers, fighting the good fight on behalf of the United States in the military --- with federal intelligence agencies and state-level law enforcement agencies here and abroad --- and comes from an esteemed line of gentlemen who have done the same. One gets the feeling that he has been one of those individuals of whom George Orwell so famously spoke: the rough men who stand ready in the night to do violence against those who would harm decent people who sleep peacefully in their beds. Stone's protagonist, CIA cleaner Micah Dalton, is one of those rough men as well, an old-school agent who runs strongly counter to the perfumed princes who attempt to rein him in. THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION begins with Dalton on the run, being pursued by his erstwhile employer for his actions at the close of THE ECHELON VENDETTA. For a cleaner, Dalton more often than not leaves behind an even bigger mess. What infuriates his bosses is that he is usually right. It doesn't help his cause though that he insists he is being haunted by the ghost of Porter Naumann, his friend and fellow CIA agent whose brutal death began, and ended, the series of events taking place in THE ECHELON VENDETTA. Naumann may really be a spirit, or he may be the unfortunate psychological manifestation of an hallucinogenic by-product that Dalton involuntarily ingested. In any event, he is there in Dalton's perception, dispensing advice, even as THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION begins with an almost-successful assassination attempt upon Dalton performed at the behest of Branco Gospic, a Serbian warlord. Gospic is exercising a vendetta of a personal and professional nature against Dalton, and Dalton is determined to respond in kind, even as he is relentlessly pursued by his former employer. However, Dalton is given what is in effect a "get out of jail free" card when a seemingly unrelated event begins to unfold in the Java Sea, where a freighter, the Mingo Dubai, is hijacked and its crew, save two --- a shipsmate and a quisling --- is murdered. The Mingo Dubai disappears, and the shipmate, a drunken Englishman named Brendan Fitch, is found, cast adrift. Fitch's tale of sea piracy is discounted, and he is blamed for its disappearance due to dereliction of duty. It is quickly discovered, however, that Fitch is Raymond Fyke, a former CIA agent who had disappeared several years before. The CIA wants Fitch back and offers Dalton, who had previously worked with Fitch, the chance to redeem himself by springing Fitch from a Singapore prison with a brutal reputation. Dalton, of course, is reticent to trust his erstwhile boss, not only with his own life, but also with that of Fyke, whose return is desired by the CIA for the purposes of plugging what they regard as a leak. Fyke, though, has knowledge of more immediate import. He knows that the Mingo Dubai was hijacked, but to what purpose? As Fyke and D

It's been a long time since I read a book where I completely lost track of time and THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION did it!!! It was so terrific that it starts where THE ECHELON VENDETTA left off.....I loved that!!! I fell 'in love' with Micah while reading David Stone's incredible, intelligent debut thriller and then even more so with this new one. What a fantastic character he is and I'm so glad that, with this new book, it has developed into a series...and what a marvelous one it is!!!! His other characters such as poor, suffering Fyke, the lethal Gospic, Mandy, Brancati, etc.....they all come to life with David Stone's marvelous words. THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION grabs you with the first page and never lets go until the riveting last page. This is a sizzling thrill ride....compelling, mesmerizing with breath-taking non-stop action!!! David Stone is the master of chapter endings....just one more...just one more....suddenly it's one in the morning!!! It's the sign of a really good book when you cannot stop thinking about it after several days of ending it and it's difficult to even start reading another book as everything seems so boring in comparison!!! It was lovely to see a softer, more gentle side of him in Micah's relationship with Cora Vasari but just as much exciting to see him in action with that lethal Kiki and Vigo....and ohhhh that ending....just the perfect 'right on' scene!!!