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Summary
Summary
A riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller Rules of Deception that confirms Christopher Reich as the master of the espionage thriller.
Months after foiling an attack on a commercial jetliner, Doctors Without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom is working under an assumed name in a remote corner of Africa while his wife, Emma, desperate to escape the wrath of Division, the secret American intelligence agency she betrayed, has vanished into the netherworld of international espionage. Both look forward to sharing a stolen weekend in London--until an ambush on a convoy of limousines turns their romantic rendezvous into a terrorist bloodbath.
In the aftermath, Emma disappears and Jonathan is apprehended by the police and threatened with life imprisonment unless he helps secure his wife's capture. Faced with an impossible decision, Jonathan makes a daring escape. On the run, herealizes that his only option is to become a spy himself in order to track down Emma and discover the true nature of the conspiracy she appears to be masterminding. In the process, Jonathan begins to realize that all along he's been a pawn in a high-stakes game of international intrigue and one-upsmanship far beyond his imagining.
Author Notes
Christopher Reich was born in Tokyo, Japan on November 12, 1961. He graduated with honors in history from Georgetown University. After spending some time as a stockbroker, he went to the University of Texas at Austin business school. After graduating, he became an employee at the Union Bank of Switzerland and his experiences there prepared him for when he wrote Numbered Account, a fiction novel involving shady finances and murder.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Near the start of bestseller Reich's stellar sequel to Rules of Deception, Dr. Jonathan Ransom flies from Africa to London for a medical conference. That same day, intermediaries arrange for him to meet his fugitive wife, Emma, once a secret agent with the Pentagon group known as Division, in a cheap hotel. The next day, Jonathan's world is literally and figuratively torn apart after a large car bomb explodes in Westminster, seriously injuring the Russian interior minister. Jonathan is sure Emma is behind the car bombing, but the police, led by Det. Chief Insp. Kate Ford, think Jonathan is responsible. Thus begins a convoluted chase-Jonathan hunting his wife, Kate and the cops along with MI5 agent Colonel Graves tracking Jonathan. Everyone, including the reader, remains clueless, except for master spy Emma, as to who is really the guilty party. A blinding twist at the end adds a spectacular fillip to a masterful performance by one of the genre's elite. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Doctors without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom's life was shattered when he thought his wife, Emma, was dead, but then he learned she was a spy, had faked her death, and is on the run from a secret American defense agency. Now working in Africa under a different name, Ransom tries to move on, though he still misses his wife and jumps at the opportunity to combine a trip to London for a conference with a weekend rendezvous with her. Unfortunately, the plan goes badly awry when a convoy of limousines is attacked by terrorists. Was Emma responsible? Facing imprisonment unless he helps capture Emma, Jonathan escapes and sets out to find his wife and determine if she really is masterminding terrorist attacks. This one is as good, if not better, than Rules of Deception (2008), moving Reich to the forefront of the action-heavy, high-octane wing of espionage fiction.--Ayers, Jeff Copyright 2009 Booklist
Kirkus Review
The secret-agent wife a Doctors Without Borders physician thought had been killed at the beginning of Rules of Deception (2008) is still alive enough to make big trouble for him and the rest of the world. Dr. Jonathan Ransom, who's left Africa to address a conference in London, is conveniently on hand when Lord Robert Russell is murdered in his Mayfair penthouse by a wraithlike intruder, available to meet his wife Emma when she unexpectedly pops up in town, and right on the scene when she detonates a bomb directed at a motorcade passing through Storey's Gate. Wounded Russian Interior Minister Igor Ivanov tells DCI Kate Ford and Colonel Charles Graves of MI5 that he was the intended target, but they're more concerned with catching the bomber. Emma, a veteran agent of Division, the U.S. Department of Defense agency that "ran the blackest of black ops," has of course vamoosed, leaving her husband to hold the bag, and in short order the Metropolitan Police oblige by arresting him. Fans of Reich's greased-lightning thrillers, however, won't expect Jonathan to be charged and jailed. Instead, they'll wait, like him, for the moment when he can overpower his captors and make his escape to the continent, across which the authorities chase him as avidly as he's chasing Emma, who's evidently determined to blow up a nuclear reactor. Just to keep things interesting, Reich also throws in a couple of wild cards: Frank Connor, ambitious new acting director of Division, whose agenda may not be exactly the same as Emma's, and Ivanov's rival Sergei Shvets, the even more megalomaniacal head of Russia's Federal Security Service. Will Europe end with a bang? Will brilliant, clueless Jonathan enjoy a tearful reunion with the wife who keeps bamboozling him? Will he at least be able to clear himself of criminal charges? And what about the sequel? Like 007's obsession with Blofeld, Jonathan's hyperinflated connubial problems seem intended to turn international terrorism into good, clean human-scale fun. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
1 The most expensive real estate in the world is located in the district of Mayfair in central London. Barely two square miles, Mayfair is bordered by Hyde Park to the west and Green Park to the south. Claridge's Hotel, the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell, and the summer residence of the sultan of Brunei are within walking distance of one another. In between can be found many of the world's best-known luxury boutiques, London's only three-star restaurant (as awarded by the Guide Michelin), and a handful of art galleries catering to those with unlimited bank accounts. Yet even within this enclave of wealth and privilege, one address stands above the rest. 1 Park Lane, or "One Park" as it's commonly known, is a luxury residential high-rise located at the southeast corner of Hyde Park. It began life one hundred years ago as a modest ten-story hotel and over time has served as a bank, a car dealership, and, it is rumored, a high-class brothel for visiting Middle Eastern dignitaries. As real estate values began to spiral upward, so did the building's aspirations. Today, One Park stands some twenty stories tall and is home to nineteen private residences. Each occupies an entire floor, not counting the penthouse, which is a duplex. Prices start at five thousand pounds, or a breath under eight thousand dollars, per square foot. The cheapest residence goes for 15 million pounds; the penthouse, four times that, 60 million pounds, or nearly 90 million dollars. Owners include a former British prime minister, an American hedge-fund manager, and the purported leader of the Bulgarian underworld. The joke around the building is who among them is the biggest thief. With so much wealth gathered beneath one roof, security is a twenty-four-hour concern. At all times, two liveried doormen cover the lobby, a team of three plainclothes officers roams the premises, and two more occupy the control room, where they keep a constant eye on the multiplex of video monitors broadcasting live feeds from the building's forty-four closed-circuit television cameras. One Park's imposing front doors are made from double-paned bulletproof glass, protected by a steel grate and secured by magnetic lock. The doors' German manufacturer, Siegfried & Stein, guaranteed the lock against a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. The front doors might be blown clear off their hinges and across the spacious marble lobby, but by God and Bismarck, they will remain locked. Visitors are granted entry only after their faces have been scrutinized via closed-circuit television and their identity confirmed by a resident. For all intents and purposes, One Park is impregnable. Getting in was the easy part. The trespasser, operational designation "Alpha," stood inside the master bedroom closet of residence 5A of 1 Park Lane. Alpha was familiar with the apartment's security system. Prior reconnaissance had revealed the presence of pressure pads beneath the carpet alongside the windows in every room and at the front entry, but none in the closet. There were other, more sophisticated measures, but they, too, could be defeated. The intruder crossed to the door and flipped the light switch. The closet was palatial. A shoe rack stood against the far wall, and next to it a rolled-up flag of St. George and two Holland & Holland shotguns. The owner's clothing hung along one wall. There was no women's clothing to be seen. The residence belonged to a bachelor. To the left were stacks of yellowing periodicals, bound newspapers, and manila files, the meticulously accumulated bric-a-brac of a dedicated scholar. To the right stood a mahogany dresser with several photographs in sterling frames. One showed a fit, sandy-haired man in hunting attire, shotgun under one arm, in conversation with a similarly sporty Queen Elizabeth II. The trespasser recognized the owner of the apartment. He was Lord Robert Russell, onl Excerpted from Rules of Vengeance by Christopher Reich All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
