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One of the more interesting aspects of Stephen Coonts's series of Jake Grafton thrillers is his steadfast policy of advancing his main and secondary characters. Resisting what arguably would be the tempting --- and easier --- inclination to keep Grafton in early middle-aged active duty, Coonts has retired his primary character from military service, though he is neither gone nor forgotten.
Grafton is now the CIA operations officer in charge of Europe, a thankless job under the best of circumstances. The focus of Coonts's narratives is slowly shifting to Tommy Carmellini, who for several years has been in a variety of capacities. Now a CIA officer, Carmellini continues to have trouble coloring inside the lines, an element that makes for an interesting contrast in style between him and Grafton.
THE TRAITOR resumes the figurative passing of the baton from Grafton to Carmellini, and in some ways it perhaps seems to be more of a transitional book than some of the others in this fine series. Given the shift in personalities and settings, Coonts is concentrating more on espionage than on military strategy, somewhat of a break from the past. THE TRAITOR accordingly contains layer upon layer of deceit and deception, and while the narrative has plenty of fistfights and explosions, it is perhaps a bit more cerebral than one might expect.
On the eve of a meeting of the G-8 leaders in Paris, Grafton discovers that Henri Rodet, the director of French intelligence, has been making clandestine investments in the Bank of Palestine. Given the institution's support of terrorism, such investments would seem to conflict with his duties to protect the world leaders arriving in Paris for the meeting. Rodet also apparently has a mole among the leaders of al-Qaeda, which he denies. It is left to Grafton and Carmellini to ferret out the truth and to ensure that the summit occurs as planned and without incident.
This is an enterprise fraught with difficulty, as it is extremely challenging for them to discern friend from foe, as death and danger comes at Carmellini from multiple sources. While there are no real surprises as readers approach the ending, there is enough of Coonts's trademark excitement to keep the pages turning to the book's ultimate conclusion.
THE TRAITOR eschews military hardware for some smaller but still interesting military gadgets, although they are kept to somewhat of a minimum. Additionally, Carmellini isn't married, so he is able to engage in some extracurricular activities that naturally cause him a bit of trouble in addition to what he might encounter in the ordinary course of his work. And there is plenty of trouble to be had. Coonts continues to display a masterful ability to suddenly turn a quiet scene into an explosive, deadly inferno, and there are a number of places here where he does just that.
While there are a couple of points where Coonts does not seem to be as surefooted as he normally is, by story's conclusion all is well and he has set up enough continuing storylines to keep the reader wondering what will be coming in the next installment.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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