"Rules of Betrayal", by Christopher Reich

Book 3, in the Jonathan Ransom series

In 'Rules of Betrayal', Jonathan is called to action by the same U.S. military team that trained his wife Emma to be a deadly operative in the espionage game. This time, however, Jonathan has a very short time to learn the ropes and rules of survival before he is placed in a precarious, life-threatening situation.

The story opens with Jonathan in Afghanistan continuing his work on his own without the assistance of Doctors without borders. When his assistant betrays him and all hell breaks loose Jonathan finally gets the occasion to meet Connor, Emma's former boss, who plays an important part in the eventual rescue by an American covert team.

We also learn Emma was recently unmasked as a double agent during an arms negotiation that went terribly wrong. Jonathan has problems accepting this theory but the mounting facts haunt him. The Division fears Emma has gone rogue somewhere in the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and is helping a wealthy arms dealer locate and retrieve a long-lost U.S nuclear warhead missing in remote snow covered mountains. With this revelation, Connor has no trouble enticing Jonathan to work with them on their next operation...

A Mossad agent named Danni will be his primary trainer and show him the latest techniques in the art of foreign espionage. The idea is to have Jonathan replace a Swiss plastic surgeon who is known in the underworld to alter the appearance of terrorists. The word on the street is a rich terrorist operative connected to the warhead wants to alter his appearance and it is felt Jonathan can gain valuable intelligence from him.

This novel of international espionage is suspenseful from start to finish, a thriller that kept me on the edge and rapidly turning pages. The story has the necessary elements to make it interesting: plenty of action, wonderful players, an exotic local and an exciting storyline made to measure for our hero, Jonathan. The author has created Jonathan as a unique character always willing and able but somewhat manipulated by both his wife and government officials. On the other hand, Emma is portrayed as a fearless super woman...

Mr. Reichs crisp dialogue, simple prose and short chapters make reading his books a pleasure.