Rules of Deception
by Christopher Reich
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christopher ReichEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-15
ISBN: 0385524064
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Rules of Deception
Book Review: His characters --- both primary and secondary --- are every bit as compelling and memorable as the storyline.
Summary: 5 Stars
RULES OF DECEPTION, the latest offering from award-winning author Christopher Reich, makes demands. Reich, whose bibliography consists of some of the most intelligent contemporary thrillers in print, has a penchant for what has been referred to elsewhere as "complex" plots. Fair enough; his work is challenging, in part because his stories are set very deeply in this world. As is thoroughly demonstrated in his new book, he has a good grasp of current events and the ways in which seemingly unrelated events are very closely tied together. Such things do not lend themselves to headline news, no matter how one tries to jam them to make them fit. Reich's work is painted on a much broader canvas, demanding singular attention to detail and to what has gone before. Fortunately, such effort on the part of the reader is rewarded one hundredfold.
Jonathan Ransom is the heart of RULES OF DECEPTION, a character who is both unique and an everyman, an expert in his field who suddenly becomes a fish out of water on a very hostile and inhospitable shore. Jonathan is a physician who eschews the fortune a medical practice could bring him, choosing instead to devote his knowledge and talents to Doctors Without Borders. As the book begins, he is taking a rare holiday with his nurse-wife, Emma, climbing the Swiss Alps and contemplating his career. Everything changes for Jonathan within the space of a few heartbeats when a blizzard sets in and Emma is lost to a hidden crevasse.
But he barely has time to grieve before his belief in his life and work is irrevocably altered. Not even 24 hours after the terrible mountainside accident, an envelope for Emma is delivered to their hotel room. All it contains is two baggage claim tickets, which are to be reclaimed at a remote baggage station. Puzzled and intrigued, Jonathan journeys to the site only to be attacked almost immediately by two men. Thanks to some luck and lightning fast reflexes acquired from working and living in dangerous places, he leaves one assailant dead and the other mortally wounded. However, Jonathan is horrified when he discovers that his attackers were Swiss policemen. Their deaths bring the Swiss authorities into play.
Meanwhile, two apparently unrelated deaths of "persons of interest" to Swiss counterespionage agents bring Marcus von Daniken, a quietly efficient and extremely competent investigator, into play. As Marcus's investigation slowly begins to dovetail into the deaths of the two policemen, and thus into Jonathan's world, he finds himself pursued by two Swiss law enforcement agencies and a shadowy, calculating assassin.
An unknown group of individuals are slowly but inexorably putting together the pieces of a plot to create an incident of international terrorism that will lead straight back to the Iranian government, in the hope of beginning a conflagration that will bring on a cataclysmic event. Jonathan slowly discovers, to his horror, that Emma had been leading a secretive double life and was an integral key in a plot that, if carried out, would result in the deaths of innocents. Whose side was Emma on? Was she trying to bring the plot to fruition, or prevent it? Grieving and angered by turns, even as he is pursued from all sides, Jonathan engages in an investigation on the run, aided only by an old family friend and headed toward what may well be the biggest shock of all.
Christopher Reich is a sure-footed guide through the labyrinthine plotting of RULES OF DECEPTION, and his characters --- both primary and secondary --- are every bit as compelling and memorable as the storyline, which reads as if it was ripped from tomorrow's headlines. Marcus von Daniken, in fact, almost steals the book away from the main characters, functioning in his own way as a lower key Samuel Gerard to Jonathan's Richard Kimble. And then there is Zvi Hirsch, an upper-level official in the Israeli government. He's not only one of the most intriguing characters in the book, but also one who you'll hope has a real-world model.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Summary of Rules of Deception
Dr. Jonathan Ransom, world-class mountaineer and surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is climbing in the Swiss Alps with his beautiful wife, Emma, when a blizzard sets in. In their bid to escape the storm, Emma is killed when she falls into a hidden crevasse.
Twenty-four hours later, Jonathan receives an envelope addressed to his wife containing two baggage-claim tickets. Puzzled, he journeys to a remote railway station only to find himself in a life-and-death struggle for his wife?s possessions. In the aftermath of the assault, he discovers that his attackers?one dead, the other mortally wounded?were, in fact, Swiss police officers. More frightening still is evidence of an extraordinary act of betrayal that leaves Jonathan stunned.
Suddenly the subject of an international manhunt and the target of a master assassin, Jonathan is forced on the run. His only chance at survival lies in uncovering the devastating truth behind the secret his wife kept from him and in stopping the terrifying conspiracy that threatens to bring the world to the brink of annihilation. Step by step, he is drawn deeper into a world of spies, high-tech weaponry, and global terrorism?a world where no one is whom they appear to be and where the end always justifies the means.
Rules of Deception is a brilliantly conceived, twisting tale of intrigue and deceit written by the master of the espionage thriller for the twenty-first century.
Lee Child on Rules of Deception
Lee Child has crafted one of literature's most popular anti-heroes in the form of Jack Reacher, the iconic ex-military policeman of his bestselling novels. The author of Nothing to Lose talks about what makes a good thriller -- and why Christopher Reich is a novelist worthy of a gold medal.
I discovered Christopher Reich exactly ten years ago. His first book came out around the same time my second book was published. The modest prosperity that one?s first book deal brings allowed me to pick up hardcovers that caught my eye. And Numbered Account caught my eye. And it lived up to its promise. It was fast, fresh, glossy, and very exciting. I thought: Reich is a keeper. And then he got better. It was always clear that he had talent to burn, but he chose to accompany it with a real work ethic. His second, third and fourth books built and built until the release of the next one was an event to be anticipated. (And right there is my only complaint: Reich doesn?t write fast enough.)
His fifth book - The Patriot's Club - was a real achievement. It was a slam-dunk winner of the International Thriller Writer?s first annual Best Novel award. Awards are often awkward. There?s usually a measure of grumbling, because often people don?t agree with the choice of winner. But not a word was heard against "The Patriot?s Club." In fact nothing was heard, because the applause was too loud.
So I was really looking forward to Rules of Deception. I got an advance copy. I cracked it open. I started reading. Mostly I read like any other reader, but a small part of me reads like a writer. I think all writers experience the same thing. We sense things between the lines, especially energy and inspiration.
And ambition.
Rules of Deception starts with a short prologue, and then the first chapter introduces Jonathan Ransom, the main character. Two pages, and then nine pages. The prologue is a teaser. It baits the hook. It?s a two-page masterpiece. It?s intriguing, and then it?s really intriguing. It promises big things ahead. Then chapter one introduces the guy who?s going to have to deal with them. And why, indirectly.
Eleven pages. The reader in me wanted to race ahead. But the writer in me had to pause a moment. Because between the lines I was sensing something. Maybe because it?s an Olympic year I can only explain it like this: picture the high jump event. Six competitors are still in. Then five, then four. Then three. Then the gold, the silver, and the bronze are settled. But the rules of track and field allow the winner to go on. The bar is raised. A personal best. The Olympic record. The bar is raised again. World record height. The stadium goes quiet. The jumper stills himself on the runway. Intense concentration. The gold medal is already in the bag. Uncharted territory. The jumper rocks from foot to foot, his mind on nothing except jumping higher than he has ever jumped before.
That?s exactly the between-the-lines feeling I was getting from Reich, eleven pages into Rules of Deception - a world-class writer preparing to accomplish something truly noteworthy.
There are a further 377 pages. They live up to the promise. --Lee Child
Amazon Exclusive Essay: Christopher Reich on Thrillers
Name your five favorite books.
For me they?re all thrillers. The Day of the Jackal, Eye of the Needle, The Bourne Identity , Noble House, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. My life stopped when I picked up each of those books and it didn?t start again until I finished the last page. I didn?t actually read them so much as disappear between their covers. That was me trying to catch the Jackal before he assassinated Charles De Gaulle, and me again at the wheel of a Jaguar XKE convertible racing down the Peak in Hong Kong. The fact is that for me life is somehow better when I?m reading a great book. Richer, more exciting?heck, I don?t know, just better. About two years ago, I decided that it was my turn to write the thriller I?d always wanted to read. I knew exactly where to start. All I had to do was "write what I know." These days, I know a lot about the intelligence community. Not the stuff you read about in the papers -- the stuff you never read about. Over the years, I?ve made a lot of friends in Washington and overseas. Diplomats, spies, soldiers, politicians ? men and women at the highest levels of government. And, I can assure you that what they?ve taught me about how the world really works is a lot more interesting and a lot more frightening than you?d ever imagine.
That?s where my newest book, Rules of Deception, comes in. It?s a story about an honest and courageous doctor named Jonathan Ransom. He?s a surgeon who works for Doctors Without Borders in some of the toughest parts of the world. He?s a happily married man with a big heart and a beautiful English wife he deeply loves named Emma who works with him. What Jonathan doesn?t know is that nothing about his life is what it seems. In fact, it?s all a web of lies and he?s caught in the middle of something extraordinarily dangerous.
I can?t say more than that, and I shouldn?t have to, because if I?ve done my job right, when you get to page five you?ll be hooked and you won?t come up for air until it?s all said and done. --Christopher Reich
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