"People will believe anything, you just have to tell them what you want them to believe long enough and often enough, and sure enough, eventually they do."
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The Marauder Betrayals by Chris O'Grady Amazon Digital Services
book review by Barbara Beefburger Scott
The Marauder Betrayals by Chris O'Grady is a sprawling tale of suspense and international dirty dealing. Published in 2004 under the nom de plume Gordon Deverowe, this novel has now been re-issued as an e-book by the author under his own name. It is the story of a rogue international CIA Operation gone wrong, and the attempt to cover up the possible scandal by silencing any domestic parties that may have knowledge of it. While told in an "ensemble cast" fashion, without any one true hero or villain, the book nominally centers around Roper, a veteran hit man hired by CIA agents (from an ad in the magazine House and Gun) as their "Dispatcher," with the true intention of pinning a domestic CIA assassination on him. However, exceedingly cautious, Roper hires an actor to meet with the CIA agents in his place, while he records and photographs the meeting. The CIA agents assassinate their target, and then kill their "Dispatcher," only to find they were dealing with a stand-in the whole time. This sets Roper off on an investigation into what went wrong and, more importantly, how to still get paid.
The story has long legs, reaching into a Middle Eastern country where desperate tribal rebels wait for help from the US. "One name at a time...” is Roper's mantra while peeling back the layers of the mystery he finds himself in, and it can also be used to describe the way this story is told. The first eleven chapters are devoted to introducing our myriad characters. This can leave the reader feeling a bit antsy in the beginning, as the author is slow in revealing the connections between these people. But the story gradually comes together into what is truly a riveting read. The author is quite adept at paying off all the premises he sets up (not to mention deftly keeping track of all the moving parts), and manages to weave quite an intricate tale without the reader ever feeling lost (except when he is supposed to—this is suspense, after all). The Marauder Betrayals is an expansive yet fully integrated tale of international and domestic intrigue.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review