Traitor

Stephen Coonts has written a compelling post 9-11 spy novel entitled The Traitor. Tommy Carmalini is a CIA agent who specializes in breaking and entering in order to plant surveillance bugs and cameras. In this novel, he is sent to France to help secure the meeting place for the G-8 Summit where all the leaders of the G-8 nations will meet for a historic conference. Tommy is assigned to help determine the nature of the relationship between a French Intelligence official and his supposed Al Qaeda informant.

Coonts does an excellent job of maintaining suspense and keeping the interest high. There is plenty of action, but it is balanced by detailed description and valuable cultural and intelligence information. He adeptly switches between first person and third person perspectives, letting us in on the mental, emotional and psychological workings of a master spy while also providing access to information and events that Tommy can’t experience.

I felt that by reading the book I had tasted a little bit of French culture and got a whirlwind tour of Paris. The differences in political and intelligence operations between France and the United States was also interesting. While the story is pretty realistic and believable, Tommy, in his own words, repeated several times in the book, is too lucky. However, the unfolding of events and the unraveling of limited information, with desperate attempts to make sense of insufficient data, while trying to determine what is true and what is misinformation, makes the plot compelling. It sheds light on the difficulty of tacking, thwarting and capturing terrorists while also revealing how difficult it is for terrorists to carry out their plots without being detected and stopped.

One of the mysteries of the story is determining who the traitor is.