Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Rules of Deception
Book Review: An amazing thrill ride from Christopher Reich
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've never read a book by Christopher Reich, this is a great one to start with. If you've read him before, this is one of his best.
Jonathan Ransom and his wife Emma suffer a horrible tragedy in the Swiss Alps but that is only the beginning of a deep complex mystery that makes this a grand read. Reich's complex novel involves the Middle East, terrorism, the Swiss banking system, the CIA and much more. Heroes and villains are well drawn throughout. Reich never insults the reader by making things too easy in this story. It requires careful attention until the final thrilling page. The detail is superb but never confusing. So many of these characters are not what they seem and many twists and turns populate the pages. The potential disasters that unfold in this book that make it one of the best examples of the cliched "never a dull moment". And one will put this book down at the end thinking.."Could this really happen?".
Book Review: An okay read, ruined by a preposterous underlying plot issue
Summary: 2 Stars
In this novel, a doctor who practices in Third World countries as a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders finds himself embroiled in a scheme of international intrigue, terrorism, and government corruption at the highest levels. He must outthink and outfight his opponents while trying to unravel the mystery of why he's the object of an international manhunt, wrongly implicated as a terrorist, and accused of murder.
As an escapist thriller, this book works as far as the mechanics of the action; a lot of shooting in picturesque locales. The realization of the individual characters is pretty thin, though, so it's hard to build up much empathy on more than a very superficial level. I didn't find myself invested in them at all.
Frankly, this book - with the exception of its fatal flaw - works better as a script for a movie than as an engrossing novel.
Now to the real problem.
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
The key plot device - the actual perpetrators of the terrorist action - is one that in my opinion fell out of style back in the 70s: the "rogue" US government agency. And the reason it's so hackneyed is that in this day and age of government oversight and extremely partisan politics, it's simply beyond incredible that such an agency would not only be able to gather the resources necessary to carry out this scheme, but that a "competing" agency would let them continue on their path simply to discredit them.
I mean.... HUH?????
It was simply ludicrous beyond belief, and had me laughing out loud.
Book Review: Anti American, Anti Christian
Summary: 1 Stars
CIA, DOD & a Committed Christian are the bad guys. Reich must be part of the "Blame America First" crowd.Book Review: Author Reviews on back cover
Summary: 4 Stars
I have seen CR's books in the library and bookstores before, but I have never read them--until this one. I read it because of the positive review by Lee Child on the back cover.
I was not disappointed by the plot. It moved quickly and was an interesting read. Yes, at times I had to suspend by belief and try not to roll my eyes at some of the adjectives or other descriptors used to describe characters or places. This was the perfect book to read after a long weekend of mid-term grading.
Book Review: Basic, casual, and unremarkable
Summary: 1 Stars
The "liner notes" got my attention - so I bit. And it was a bad choice. Boring, uninteresting, not thrilling, no real surprises, and another average "intrigue" novel which never really got going. These things are a
"dime a dozeon" as my mother would say - sometimes a great plot overcomes lazy writing; sometimes great writing makes up for a ridiculous or dull plot line. I thought neither benefit came through in this book and I wish to hell I had paid $7 for a paperback so I could throw it out half way thru.