Max Geller, part 2.
In The President’s Dossier (part 1), CIA operative Max Geller managed to find some pretty damning evidence that the newly elected president was in bed with the Russians. While finding the dirty pictures in Moscow, Max managed to piss of a highly placed CIA asset, rob a Russian bank (for a cool $5 million), kill a bunch of Russian agents, get bounced out of the CIA mostly for naught because the evidence never made it out of some file drawer.
Part 2 opens with Max and girlfriend Vanessa (also CIA) relaxing on a beach near Sydney. All’s well until a small hit squad opens fire. This doesn’t help Max’s disposition one bit. He wants to find out who outed his whereabouts. When he gets an audience with Rodney, his former boss at the Agency, the hit squad’s intentions are brushed aside.
Rodney needs Max. Now Max and Rodney aren’t chums after Rodney fired Max. An asset deep within the war planning arm of the Kremlin wants to defect and the only person he trusts with he and his wife is Max. As a war planner, ‘Rampart’ would be a prize worth winning. Problem is that the GRU/SVR/SUV, yadda yadda yadda wants Max for a very public trial and incarceration in the deepest hole the Kremlin can find. Max doesn’t think any plan has a good chance of success, but with a little arm twisting and a bit of blackmail, Max agrees to sneak back into Russia, contact Rampart, and then plan/execute an exfil to get Colonel and Mrs. Rampart out.
Two chases are underway. One is Max (and some ‘friends’) chasing freedom for Rampart. The other is the Russian state security people desperately wanting the catch Max. The chase goes all over NW Russian, Finland, Germany, Cyprus and ending in some creative solutions to multiple problems in DC. Some of the solutions devised by the Russians. Some by the CIA. Some by Max and friends. And plenty of people, Russian and US, wouldn’t find a deceased Max to be something to mourn over.
The President’s Dossier had quite the far-fetched, but entirely possible, plot line. Blood picks up shortly after Dossier ended. The key thing for me is that Scott outlines multiple duplicitous plans that generally seem quite possible (all except one involving the Washington Monument) that has Max stumbling over his own two left feet. Good thing his most important weapon is his ability think/decide/act quickly with or without any loss of life. The first half of the book is classic espionage – who’s thinking what, when might something happen or not, then what should be do or what might they do. When the chases begin, the plotting pace accelerates considerably. While the two books can be standalones, I might suggest that they be read in order.
I’m getting to be a broken record here. Publishers. Pay attention to a book's publisher. This is another winning thriller from Oceanview Publishing.
Thanks to NetGalley for making the advance reader copy available for review.
East Coast Don
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