Rules of Deception
by Christopher Reich
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Book Reviews of Rules of Deception
Book Review: crazy plot and incomprehensible characters
Summary: 2 Stars
The premise is interesting enough. Noble, attractive doctor (with some strange but convenient former hobbies like bare knuckle bar fights) looses equally attractive wife in mountaineering accident and finds out she led the live of, nobody less than, a female James Bond. But then the plot quickly thickens into a global nuclear-terrorist-infused conspiracy where secret government organizations chase each other in ever increasingly unrealistic ways. Maybe the biggest problem of the novel however is the inexplicable motivations of its characters. Why would the dear doctor go to ridiculous lengths (fighting the police, dueling professional assassins, practically becoming a secret agent himself) just to find out who his fake, misleading and unscrupulous wife worked for? Why would the police and other shadowy figures in the book risk life and limb for the powers that thought out all these crazy operations? Why would they care? Why would we care?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: Riveting!
Summary: 4 Stars
RATING: 4.5 out of 5
Christopher Reich absolutely has a winner with this book. Rules of Deception has it all. With a full and varied cast of characters, current political climates in different parts of the world, and enough action it keeps you up all night trying to figure out the roles of everyone. No one should be turned off in the beginning by the large number of players in this world wide tale. They all very quickly melt together and have you picking up speed through each phase of this very complex adventure.
Not only does Mr. Reich weave a great plot of espionage in the 21st century and all very believable, I am hoping that the ending purposely left room for Dr. Ransom and his lovely Emma to come back in a sequel. I took this book on vacation and it did not last two full days.
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
Very good fiction with some surprising twists. It's quick reading with nice chapter breaks every three to five pages. It's hard to put down, though. Will probably make a good movie, too.
One pet peeve I had was that it switches between metric and English a lot. Sometimes it will say 20 meters, another time it will be 6 feet, followed by 6 kilometers, followed by inch-by-inch, etc. Very distracting to me, especially when it's on back-to-back pages. Well, not a big deal.
Another pet peeve is types -- but I don't have it with this book. It's surprisingly free of them, evidence of good review and editing.
If you're like me, you read fiction selectively and try to pick only the better books to read. This is one to read this year.
Book Review: Great Weekend but Not a Great House Guest
Summary: 4 Stars
I arrived at my friends house on a Friday in the rain. My host said he had just read this great book and he handed me Rules of Deception. I had read the review in the Times and remembered the critic loved it so I looked at it. I spent most of the rest of the weekend on the beach and around the house with my nose in the book. It was a great read.
I will not review the plot as it has been done by others. It is exciting and flows well. There are two problems that stop it from being a 5 star book. First Jonathon Ramsey is not that interesting a character. He is too good and really does not surprise me. Second it is even a bit far fetched for a thriller. Having said all of this I really enjoyed it as I was reading it.