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Rules of Vengeance (Jonathan Ransom Series #2) by Christopher Reich — book cover

Rules of Vengeance (Jonathan Ransom Series #2)

by Christopher Reich
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Overview

A riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller Rules of Deception that confirms Christopher Reich as the master of the espionage thriller.
Months after foiling an attack on a commercial jetliner, Doctors Without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom is working under an assumed name in a remote corner of Africa while his wife, Emma, desperate to escape the wrath of Division, the secret American intelligence agency she betrayed, has vanished into the netherworld of international espionage. Both look forward to sharing a stolen weekend in London—until an ambush on a convoy of limousines turns their romantic rendezvous into a terrorist bloodbath.
In the aftermath, Emma disappears and Jonathan is apprehended by the police and threatened with life imprisonment unless he helps secure his wife’s capture. Faced with an impossible decision, Jonathan makes a daring escape. On the run, herealizes that his only option is to become a spy himself in order to track down Emma and discover the true nature of the conspiracy she appears to be masterminding. In the process, Jonathan begins to realize that all along he’s been a pawn in a high-stakes game of international intrigue and one-upsmanship far beyond his imagining.

Synopsis

New York Times Bestseller

Months after foiling an international terrorist attack, Doctors Without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom is working under an assumed name in a remote corner of Africa.  His wife, Emma, desperate to escape the wrath of Division, the secret American intelligence agency she betrayed, has been in hiding. Both look forward to sharing a stolen weekend in London—until a terrorist attack ruins their romantic rendezvous.  In the aftermath, Emma disappears and Jonathan is apprehended by the police and threatened, unless he helps secure his wife’s capture.  He embarks on a breathless chase across Europe, searching for Emma, and keeping Division at bay . . . until he realizes that all along he’s been a pawn in a high-stakes game of international intrigue far beyond his imagining.

Follow the Rules:
Don't miss Christopher Reich's new thriller, Rules of Betrayal, coming in hardcover in July. The first novel in the series, Rules of Deception, is available now in paperback.

Publishers Weekly

Near the start of bestseller Reich's stellar sequel to Rules of Deception, Dr. Jonathan Ransom flies from Africa to London for a medical conference. That same day, intermediaries arrange for him to meet his fugitive wife, Emma, once a secret agent with the Pentagon group known as Division, in a cheap hotel. The next day, Jonathan's world is literally and figuratively torn apart after a large car bomb explodes in Westminster, seriously injuring the Russian interior minister. Jonathan is sure Emma is behind the car bombing, but the police, led by Det. Chief Insp. Kate Ford, think Jonathan is responsible. Thus begins a convoluted chase-Jonathan hunting his wife, Kate and the cops along with MI5 agent Colonel Graves tracking Jonathan. Everyone, including the reader, remains clueless, except for master spy Emma, as to who is really the guilty party. A blinding twist at the end adds a spectacular fillip to a masterful performance by one of the genre's elite. (Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author, Christopher Reich

Christopher Reich is the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Deception, Numbered Account and The Patriot’s Club, which won the International Thriller Writers Award for best novel in 2006.  He lives in California with his family.
 
www.christopherreich.com

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Doctors Without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom somehow survived the events described in Christopher Reich's Rules of Deception. Now, working under an assumed name in the remotest part of Africa, he longs for a stolen vacation weekend in London with his wife, who is also living clandestinely. Those rosy thoughts dissolve instantly, however, when Jonathan learns that his beloved Emma has gone missing. Things grow even worse when he is arrested and threatened with life imprisonment unless he helps secure his wife's capture. Faced with those two numbing choices, he makes a desperate, death-defying escape. And that is only the beginning of this accelerated thrill ride….

Publishers Weekly

Near the start of bestseller Reich's stellar sequel to Rules of Deception, Dr. Jonathan Ransom flies from Africa to London for a medical conference. That same day, intermediaries arrange for him to meet his fugitive wife, Emma, once a secret agent with the Pentagon group known as Division, in a cheap hotel. The next day, Jonathan's world is literally and figuratively torn apart after a large car bomb explodes in Westminster, seriously injuring the Russian interior minister. Jonathan is sure Emma is behind the car bombing, but the police, led by Det. Chief Insp. Kate Ford, think Jonathan is responsible. Thus begins a convoluted chase-Jonathan hunting his wife, Kate and the cops along with MI5 agent Colonel Graves tracking Jonathan. Everyone, including the reader, remains clueless, except for master spy Emma, as to who is really the guilty party. A blinding twist at the end adds a spectacular fillip to a masterful performance by one of the genre's elite. (Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews

The secret-agent wife a Doctors Without Borders physician thought had been killed at the beginning of Rules of Deception (2008) is still alive enough to make big trouble for him and the rest of the world. Dr. Jonathan Ransom, who's left Africa to address a conference in London, is conveniently on hand when Lord Robert Russell is murdered in his Mayfair penthouse by a wraithlike intruder, available to meet his wife Emma when she unexpectedly pops up in town, and right on the scene when she detonates a bomb directed at a motorcade passing through Storey's Gate. Wounded Russian Interior Minister Igor Ivanov tells DCI Kate Ford and Colonel Charles Graves of MI5 that he was the intended target, but they're more concerned with catching the bomber. Emma, a veteran agent of Division, the U.S. Department of Defense agency that "ran the blackest of black ops," has of course vamoosed, leaving her husband to hold the bag, and in short order the Metropolitan Police oblige by arresting him. Fans of Reich's greased-lightning thrillers, however, won't expect Jonathan to be charged and jailed. Instead, they'll wait, like him, for the moment when he can overpower his captors and make his escape to the continent, across which the authorities chase him as avidly as he's chasing Emma, who's evidently determined to blow up a nuclear reactor. Just to keep things interesting, Reich also throws in a couple of wild cards: Frank Connor, ambitious new acting director of Division, whose agenda may not be exactly the same as Emma's, and Ivanov's rival Sergei Shvets, the even more megalomaniacal head of Russia's Federal Security Service. Will Europe end with a bang? Will brilliant, clueless Jonathan enjoy a tearfulreunion with the wife who keeps bamboozling him? Will he at least be able to clear himself of criminal charges? And what about the sequel?Like 007's obsession with Blofeld, Jonathan's hyperinflated connubial problems seem intended to turn international terrorism into good, clean human-scale fun.

Book Details

Published
May 1, 2010
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pages
608
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780307387837

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