Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Orpheus Deception-David Stone

The Orpheus Deception
David Stone
Putnam, Apr 2008, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399154638

CIA cleaner Micah Dalton is still recuperating from his escapades especially the drugs he was forced to take (see THE ECHELON VENDETTA) as he continues to chat with the ghost of former peer Porter Naumann. Whereas the spirit keeps warning Micah to be cautiouns as all hell is about to break loose, Micah and his girlfriend Cora Vasari attend Naumann’s funeral in Tuscany.

However, in reality, Dalton is hallucinating as he bleeds in a Venusian hospital after a female marathon runner stabbed him with a piece of glass. Serbian mob kingpin Branco Gospic had called for the hit after Dalton interfered with his operations making him look weak when he beat up two thugs. The Gospic gang also has hijacked a tanker off Indonesia killing the crew and murdered everyone who attended a party hosted by a rival. Meanwhile, Dalton receiving his next assignment, leaves the hospital, stops for some action with Cora, and accompanied by British agent Mandy Pownall goes into the field to rescue the only survivor of the tanker murders, rogue Special Air Service agent Ray Fyke, who is a guest resident of Changi Prison in Singapore.

This is a superb action thriller in which the reader needs to ignore their plausibility metric meter and instead put on their seat belt and helmet to join Dalton on his wild international caper. The story line is fast-paced from the onset even when the hero lies in a hospital bed and never slows down as blood flows except for sexual interludes. Fans who enjoy over the top thrillers will appreciate Dalton’s second globalization adventure, an exciting tale impossible to put down.

Harriet Klausner

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