Rules of Deception

Rules of Deception Features

Additional Rules of Deception Information

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.

What Customers Say About Rules of Deception:

There never was any foundation established for many of the actions and so the story became unbelieveable. The book starts well. The characters, too, were never well developed. The opening scenes were complelling. After the first rush of interest though the story began to get bogged down in its own convoluted plot. By the end of the book I hardly cared because it all made no sense. I had the feeling when I finished the book that it could have been good ---- but it needed more rewites, more cohesion and a clearer vision.

I couldn't even get through half the book before I didn't care about anyone in it. This is my first read by Reich, and probably won't buy another.

But, it is pretty awful reading material. If this is what passes for modern thriller-writing, I think I am changing the class of books I have been reading with such relish for 40 years.

If you extracted all the unnecessary, superfluous, redundant, clichéd, unoriginal, worn-out, passé, overworked, stereotypical, timeworn, banal, commonplace, hackneyed, overused, stale, tired, unimaginative,.sigh. Excuse me, ladies and gents - all 94 reviewers who went before me - have we been reading the same book.

Are you kidding. I am running out of synonyms for awful writing - expressions and words, we would have a 200 page decent book, instead of a 576-page bloat.

Somebody compared this writer to the likes of Ludlum, Forsyth and Trevanian, true masters of the thriller genre. I will give this book two stars for the plot.

I, for one, was not entertained and I will probably have to see a dentist to see about the damage caused by hours of teeth-gnashing.

This book is tense, compelling, and even fun. And wow. Like many folks who have given praise in this forum, Rules of Deception was my first step into the world of Reich. The story is well-developed, the characters are not paper-thin, and the action is not over-done. I'm really glad I listened to those who compared this book to some of the greatest spy novels ever penned. Simply put, I am an instant fan. Literally coudn't put it down. That sounds like a cliche, but in this case it was absolutely true.

the most ridiculous thing of all-->>>>>the leader of one of the groups (Austin) is doing this because he converted to Christianity. I struggled to finish listening to this book.it was so improbable and almost ridiculous in its "convolutedness". I know it is a novel, but I think that a thriller like this should bear some resemblance to reality and have some sense of logic.It was so "out there", so preposterous.two battling organizations are the Dept. I just could not buy into this.Then this. His character was barely developed. of Defense and the CIA.

One reviewer said I could not agree more. The narration was fine, it was the story that was so flawed. EGADS. That was the point at which the story lost ANY believability/credibility. It is just ludicrous to posit or think that no one in these organizations would "blow the whistle" on these terrorist plans. I am not interested in people who blam America for all the ills in the world, even in fiction.There was nothing about Jonathan Ransom that interested me.

I cannot imagine such an undeveloped character "carrying" a series.A good-reading friend tells me the next book is better, but I don't know if I will even try it.