Shadow of Betrayal

June 29, 2009
Ludlum fans will enjoy Battles's third thriller to feature Jonathan Quinn, though it falls short of the standard set by The Cleaner (2007) and The Deceived (2008). A botched information exchange near Cork, Ireland, results in a number of dead bodies, but Quinn, an operative-for-hire who specializes in resolving messy situations, manages to retrieve an envelope with the vital data for his client, Peter, head of a shadowy agency known simply as "the Office." Peter dispatches Quinn to deal with another botched operation, this time in New York City, where Quinn stumbles on the murdered corpse of Christopher Jackson, the deputy director of National Intelligence. Predictably, Quinn ends up framed for Jackson's murder. In his effort to clear his name and track down the true culprits, he encounters a sinister group called LP, which was behind the market manipulations that led to the recent worldwide financial meltdown. LP aims not only to control the U.S. "but also nearly twenty percent of the rest of the world." Action junkies not expecting surprises will be satisfied.