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Rules of Deception | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Reich
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $11.89
You Save: $13.06 (52%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 896
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0385524064
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385524063
ASIN: 0385524064
Publication Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Lee Child on Rules of Deception
Lee Child has crafted one of literature's most popular anti-heroes in the form of Jack Reacher, the iconic ex-military policeman of his bestselling novels. The author of Nothing to Lose talks about what makes a good thriller -- and why Christopher Reich is a novelist worthy of a gold medal.
 I discovered Christopher Reich exactly ten years ago. His first book came out around the same time my second book was published. The modest prosperity that one's first book deal brings allowed me to pick up hardcovers that caught my eye. And Numbered Account caught my eye. And it lived up to its promise. It was fast, fresh, glossy, and very exciting. I thought: Reich is a keeper.
And then he got better. It was always clear that he had talent to burn, but he chose to accompany it with a real work ethic. His second, third and fourth books built and built until the release of the next one was an event to be anticipated. (And right there is my only complaint: Reich doesn't write fast enough.)
His fifth book - The Patriot's Club - was a real achievement. It was a slam-dunk winner of the International Thriller Writer's first annual Best Novel award. Awards are often awkward. There's usually a measure of grumbling, because often people don't agree with the choice of winner. But not a word was heard against "The Patriot's Club." In fact nothing was heard, because the applause was too loud.
So I was really looking forward to Rules of Deception. I got an advance copy. I cracked it open. I started reading. Mostly I read like any other reader, but a small part of me reads like a writer. I think all writers experience the same thing. We sense things between the lines, especially energy and inspiration.
And ambition.
Rules of Deception starts with a short prologue, and then the first chapter introduces Jonathan Ransom, the main character. Two pages, and then nine pages. The prologue is a teaser. It baits the hook. It's a two-page masterpiece. It's intriguing, and then it's really intriguing. It promises big things ahead. Then chapter one introduces the guy who's going to have to deal with them. And why, indirectly.
Eleven pages. The reader in me wanted to race ahead. But the writer in me had to pause a moment. Because between the lines I was sensing something. Maybe because it's an Olympic year I can only explain it like this: picture the high jump event. Six competitors are still in. Then five, then four. Then three. Then the gold, the silver, and the bronze are settled. But the rules of track and field allow the winner to go on. The bar is raised. A personal best. The Olympic record. The bar is raised again. World record height. The stadium goes quiet. The jumper stills himself on the runway. Intense concentration. The gold medal is already in the bag. Uncharted territory. The jumper rocks from foot to foot, his mind on nothing except jumping higher than he has ever jumped before.
That's exactly the between-the-lines feeling I was getting from Reich, eleven pages into Rules of Deception - a world-class writer preparing to accomplish something truly noteworthy.
There are a further 377 pages. They live up to the promise.
--Lee Child
Amazon Exclusive Essay: Christopher Reich on Thrillers
Name your five favorite books.
 For me they're all thrillers. The Day of the Jackal, Eye of the Needle, The Bourne Identity , Noble House, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. My life stopped when I picked up each of those books and it didn't start again until I finished the last page. I didn't actually read them so much as disappear between their covers. That was me trying to catch the Jackal before he assassinated Charles De Gaulle, and me again at the wheel of a Jaguar XKE convertible racing down the Peak in Hong Kong. The fact is that for me life is somehow better when I'm reading a great book. Richer, more exciting…heck, I don't know, just better.
About two years ago, I decided that it was my turn to write the thriller I'd always wanted to read. I knew exactly where to start. All I had to do was "write what I know." These days, I know a lot about the intelligence community. Not the stuff you read about in the papers -- the stuff you never read about. Over the years, I've made a lot of friends in Washington and overseas. Diplomats, spies, soldiers, politicians - men and women at the highest levels of government. And, I can assure you that what they've taught me about how the world really works is a lot more interesting and a lot more frightening than you'd ever imagine.
That's where my newest book, Rules of Deception, comes in. It's a story about an honest and courageous doctor named Jonathan Ransom. He's a surgeon who works for Doctors Without Borders in some of the toughest parts of the world. He's a happily married man with a big heart and a beautiful English wife he deeply loves named Emma who works with him. What Jonathan doesn't know is that nothing about his life is what it seems. In fact, it's all a web of lies and he's caught in the middle of something extraordinarily dangerous.
I can't say more than that, and I shouldn't have to, because if I've done my job right, when you get to page five you'll be hooked and you won't come up for air until it's all said and done.
--Christopher Reich
Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Rules of Deception September 6, 2008
Excellent condition of book as stated. Shipping great. Good shopping expe from Amazon.rience in all ways
COULDN"T PUT IT DOWN September 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is my first time reading Reich and I was drawn to the book after I saw him in a interview. The book kept me glued and I literally couldn't put it down. I recommend this to anyone looking for a smart,refreshing, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that will leave you wanting more! 5 stars!
Quick Intense Read September 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book and read it fairly quickly. However. I decided to give it four stars instead of three because it kept me going and entertained. Here are some of my observations:
1. The book reads like a Dan Brown or Ludlum novel. Very short chapters, moving from one key player to another and back again. We see things happening simultaneously from three or four different perspectives. However, there are some surprises thrown in and some long pauses between some of the characters that didn't quite work timing wise. The boogeyman is always there ready to jump out and kill him and yet sometimes, he keeps his distance and we forget about him.
2. Like in a Ludlum novel, the main character, Dr. Jonathan Ransom, is constantly confronted with shocking and crazy things that plunge him deeper and deeper into a maze that seems like he will never find his way out. Can you imagine being in love with a wife who is actually leading a totally provocative second life?
3. So the plot thickens, the world is about ready to experience world war three, while Jonathan is dodging bullets, gets lucky over and over again and escapes death and being arrested by the Swiss police, all while having just lost his wife in a skiing accident. A little too much Hollywood here. And yet, like Hollywood, it's fun. That said, I would enjoy it even more if he'd read a little LeCarre or Len Deighton and incorporate more plot plausibility, a little subtlety, a little more real spy stuff and a little less harrowing and exaggerated story lines. Not that the story lines themselves are bad. But they're too quickly put together and too immediate and I felt, too unbelievable, which makes the story not quite as gripping as it could have been.
All and all, it's worth the read, and like "Da Vinci Code," moves along quickly and in short readable chapters with characters you like and care about. It's a great airport novel but with a little work, could have been even better.
 Long time to Get it Together - Then Fizzed September 1, 2008
This novel starts with a good hook - the main character (a doctor with Drs Without Borders) goes climbing with his wife. She dies when she falls into a crevasse. Then, the reader is switched to Swiss authorities trying to manage anti-terrorism. Then we are back with the doctor and learn that his wife is not who he thought she was. This hook kept me reading. Through it all I wanted to find out who she was.
The book takes a long time to get the several plot elements and characters together. The short chapters are devoted to the Swiss, the CIA, an assassin, the doctor, and more. Amazingly, none of the characters are very compelling. All are a bit flat.
Even the doctor is not compelling as he hunts for the truth about about his wife while staying one step in front of all the people trying to kill him. This is another one of those thrillers where the amateur out-runs, out-fights and out-smarts all the professionals. This always difficult plotline is not pulled off here.
As one would expect when the plotlines of the Israelis, Iranis, two American groups, the Swiss and the amateur are all being told in short and disparate pieces, it is difficult to keep the plotlines straight. They don't blend into a discernible pattern until about two-thirds of the book, when the book gains interest. That interest is sustained until the very unsatisfying ending. Once the plot is discerned, there is not much new to it - except the decietful wife. There are the mid-east terrorists, European intelligence, CIA, Iran and Israel all done so many times.
All in all, the book is mediocre. For great thrillers in this genre go with Silva.
Expect to lose a lot of sleep August 31, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This story pulls readers in and won't let them go until it's finished. If you read at night before bed, as I do, expect to spend a few extra hours reading every night until you find answers to all the questions that start building from the very first chapter.
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