The Venetian Judgment Tapa dura - 2009

de David Stone

Deception in the CIA, historical intrigue, and blood inthe streets-Micah Dalton returns in the stunning newnovel by the New York Times-bestselling author.

Winter in Venice and akilling frost has cut deep intoCIA cleaner Micah Dalton's heart as he headsout into the night to erase the last members ofthe Serbian gang who shot his lover, a hand-to-hand vendettaDalton does not intend to survive. And he might not have, if amysterious jade box containing a stainless steel glasscutter hadnot arrived at his villa. The glasscutter has powerful meaning foronly a select few people high up inside the American intelligenceestablishment.

The box, and the dangerous message it contains, triggersa global search for a possible mole within the upper echelonsof the CIA itself, a pursuit that takes Dalton from Venice toSantorini to Istanbul, where he collides with a shadowy groupof spies determined to prevent the discovery of a plot that couldparalyze America's most critical intelligence operations aroundthe world.

Through airborne firefights above the Sea of Marmora,a harrowing sea chase up the Straits of the Bosphorus, andthen halfway across the globe to a violent confrontation in themangrove swamps of Florida's Emerald Coast, Dalton and hisassociate-the half-American, half-English aristocrat MandyPownall-risk their lives and possibly their sanity in a desperatehunt for the architects of a cunningly deceptive espionage offensivemounted by one of America's most subtle and ancient enemies.

Intelligent, sophisticated, and filled with pulsing suspense,The Venetian Judgment is a brilliant thriller from a master craftsman.