Games Traitors Play

Daniel Merchant pursues the world’s most dangerous terrorist, Salim Dhar, who tried to kill the U.S. president, in Stock’s smart second thriller featuring the MI6 agent (after 2010’s Dead Spy Running). Along the way, Merchant battles Russians and terrorists as well as American intelligence as personified by blowhard CIA official James Spiro. In a particularly wince-inducing scene, Merchant is tortured by a Moroccan intelligence officer, who employs the classic techniques used in Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil. Merchant later escapes to England, where his mentor, MI6 chief Marcus Fielding, commiserates briefly, then sends him back into the jaws of death in search of Dhar. The crosses—double, triple, and beyond—will set readers’ heads spinning as they attempt to keep track of character loyalties. While Merchant appears to succeed a little too easily in the end, the last installment of the projected trilogy will no doubt hold more than one nasty surprise for our hero. Agent: Claire Paterson, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)