Rules
of Deception ,
by Christopher Reich (Read by Paul Michael)
Dedicated to helping others as a surgeon
for Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Jonathan Ransom has
not vacationed in years. When he is transferred back
to the home office in Switzerland, it seems like the
perfect opportunity to take his wife, Emma, on a ski
vacation in the Alps. Tragedy strikes when Emma falls
and breaks her leg. Reluctantly, Jonathan leaves her
to go for help, but when he returns, he finds that she
has crawled away and fallen into a bottomless crevasse.
Returning to their hotel after her death, he receives
a package containing baggage claim checks, and his grief
is compounded by confusion as he discovers that Emma
was not who she purported to be. In his quest to solve
the mystery of his wife's secret life, he stumbles into
a deadly web of murder, deceit and international espionage.
As he tries to extricate himself, he finds himself hunted
by good guys, bad guys, friends, foes and his own uncertainties.
Christopher Reich set out to write a thriller,
and he has written a superb one. The main character,
sympathetic and likeable, becomes the ultimate underdog
when he is wrongly accused of a crime and pursued by
both the authorities and the terrorists. Just when it
seems that he couldn't possibly elude the police or
the killers again, he demonstrates the ability to tap
his creative genius to come up with another escape.
Paul Michael's narration provides the right amount of
intensity and sensitivity so that the audio experience
is relaxing and entertaining and not a non-stop adrenalin
rush.
Rules of Deception is a perfect
audio book for either solitary or joint listening. The
situations and covert agencies Reich describes invite
both contemplation by a lone listener or discussion
by an entire group. It would be naïve to believe
that "black ops" and operators don't really
exist in this country and around the world, and this
book dispels that myth. Rules of Deception is
a timely, gut-wrenching reminder that as we become global
citizens we gain enemies as well as friends. With heroes
like Jonathan Ransom, though, the future is secure.
Ruth
Mormon
9/5/08
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