The Traitor

Tommy Carmellini #2

by Stephen Coonts

Abu Qasim was the perfect spy. He was the man who could bring down Bin Laden, the man who could smash Al Queda. Surrounded by fanatics in the heart of the beast, he believed in himself beyond any shadow of a doubt, believed in what he knew to be right with a faith that could withstand all adversity. He lived by his wits and played the double game to the last drop of blood. Or did he?

Assigned to Paris, CIA officer Tommy Carmellini finds himself working for his old boss, Jake Grafton, who is the new CIA operations officer in charge of Europe. Grafton has a mission: He believes that the director of French Intelligence has a secret agent among the leaders of Al Queda and the Americans want access to that intelligence. Yet the director denies it!

Trying to ferret out the truth, Grafton and Carmellini are quickly entangled in a mare’s nest of espionage, deception and murder. The director has secret investments in the Bank of Palestine and a killer is on the loose. If that weren’t enough, the leaders of the G-8 industrialized nations are soon to meet in Paris, an event that would make a tempting terrorist target. Throw into the mix the very beautiful and clever daughter of the French Ambassador to Washington, an Israeli spy or two, and the stage is set for a tour de force of deception and drama in the world’s most beautiful city, graceful, ageless Paris.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Mystery, Audiobook, Military Fiction, Action

354 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2006

About the author

Stephen Coonts (born July 19, 1946) is an American thriller and suspense novelist.

Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town and earned an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). His navigator-bombardier was LTjg Stanley W. Bryant who later became a Rear Admiral and deputy commander-in-chief of the US naval forces in Europe.

After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time.

He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books.

Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son.

Taken from Wikipedia

Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.

Reviews

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second appearance of Tommy Carmellini as the fictional lead spy-agent character by Stephen Coonts. His followers say that Carmellini's role here is meatier than in the first book. This is like the passing of the baton from his original spy-agent, Jake Grafton. The story starts with Grafton contacting Carmellini for an assignment in France regarding the intelligence information that Al Queda will be disrupting the forthcoming G-8 meeting. Carmellini is joined by his ex-girlfriend, Sarah Houston, who now hates him. But they are both serious in protecting the heads of the states who will join in the meeting and also to investigate the huge deposit that France is putting in the Israeli bank. The CIA thinks that France government, particularly France's DGSE, is supporting the Al Queda operations.

The writing is engaging and towards the end, will keep you at the edge of your seat. This is also my first book about Al Queda but I did not get all the information that I thought I would like to know. Also, Paris is one of my favorite cities having been there and having fell in love with it on November 2004. Being used as a milieu for a spy-thriller is something new for me since I used to read only love stories set in Paris. There is a scene here when Carmellini is looking at Marie Antoinette's room and he says "it is in this room where killing will take place and the world will be watching." Oh, I thought that I would not want the antique furniture of Louis XIV to be damaged by gunshots and bombs.

The use of the shifting point of view, first person by Carmellini and third person by other characters, is very effective as if Coonts wants you to be there doing the investigation and be there in Paris or watching CNN and seeing the action. Either way was fun.

This is my first Coonts and he just left me with a good impression. I will not hesitate to pick up another book by him when another opportunity comes.

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Failed to hold (or even get) my interest. His first book was so much better..like 100 times better. Not wasting my time. DNF for this one.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical cookie cutter international thriller. The author places the hero in the Special Collection Service, a little known but important element of the intel community. However he then gives Tommy duties that have nothing to do with the SCS. Nice try. Late in the book after doing a brief search the hero and his boss find multiple explosive devices at a G8 meeting site that the entire French security establishment had missed. I bow to no one in my low esteem for the frogs but that is a bit much even for me. Two main characters and one secondary character are jailbirds. Think about it, if you wanted people who are reliable, able to think through the consequences of their actions and who can keep a secret would you go to a jail to find them? Don't think so.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Tommy Carmellini... what more can I say?

[Michaelene Mroz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never got into it! Disconnected story line and no action. Boring.

[Max Baer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Functional and lethal laser gun in 2004 is crazy

[R.J. Vaccarelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main character Tommy Carmellini is an American spy working with his boss in Paris trying to prevent an Al Queda plot to blow up a G-8 meeting with world leaders. The story is exciting, Carmellini is often witty, and the main characters are all good. The plot does get a little complex and hard to follow at times, but overall a great read.

[Matt Calder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has literally been sitting in front of me for years. I moved it around with the intention of reading it someday. In the last couple months I started reading a fair amount each day, and finally thought, "well, I might as well read that, find out what it's like."

I'll just say that I couldn't get into it. I might be excellent for people that enjoy the genre, but I found that the story moved along rather slowly. It felt very similar to watching golf. After 100 pages, I set it down. I may pick it back up someday.

[Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

slow book with no real suspense or drama.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing spectacular from a writer who usually provides better entertainment.

[juice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to really like Stephen Coonts.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

200 pages in and not much has happened. going to find something interesting.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a solid thriller centered around long-time Coonts hero Jake Grafton and relative newbie Tommy Carmellini, a sometimes reluctant associate of Jake's. Most of the action in this one takes place in and around Paris, where Grafton is currently based professionally and where an upcoming global summit is at risk from some Islamic terrorists. Grafton is another of those fictional characters that I really hope has a real-world counterpart or two, and he does his usual good job here of figuring out what's going on -- and of letting the much younger Carmellini handle the physical stuff and the beatings and whatnot. Hey, it's a perk of getting older and rising through the ranks, I guess.

[Ron Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Coonts is one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed all the Jake Grafton books and now I am working my way through Tommy Carmellini series. This is only the second in the series, but it is very good with enough twists and turns to keep me interested. Sexual content, alas, is only vague but I have an imagination. Ready for the third book in the series.

[Ashlyn Cox · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was a VERY fast DNF. The red flags for this one started in the first paragraph of the prologue, but I still have it a bit of a chance. I shouldn't of even given it the 37 pages worth of time that I did. It was so gross how much objectifying women was able to be packed into the first couple chapters.

Honestly don't know why I kept this one on my shelf for so long

[Brett Tompkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. The first 100 pages were super boring. No action. I would’ve stopped there had it not been a Coonts novel. Picked up a little around page 200, but pretty slow and boring throughout. Not sure if his stories changed from 8 years ago when last read him, or I changed, but not as good as I remember Coonts to be.

[Monzenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Low five stars. I really shouldn't be enjoying this book this much. It's a Carmellini-focused entry so maybe a fifth of the book is thievery antics. I guess the character grew on me. Grafton is his usual humble Superman self, supporting cast is great, and the case itself is notable. So five is okay.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in Adobe Digital Reader, and that version was almost unreadable because of errors which resulted from porting to digital format. Examples: "the" became "die", "barn" was "bam" etc. etc.
These errors were numerous and consistent throughout the book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific thriller about a traitor that takes place in Paris. I especially liked that even I, someone who is unfamiliar with military stuff, could still easily follow the story. Twists and turns. Very well written.

[Gary Hahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outstanding book in this series. Lots of intrigue and mis-direction during the story. Makes you think a lot about the current world when leaders of several countries gather for a meeting. Seemed like Tommy and Jake were parting ways until the last few pages. Very entertaining.

[Jeff Tonkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You gotta love Tommy Carmellini. I didn't like it as much as the 1st or 3rd book in this series, maybe because the identity of the traitor boils down to 1 of 2 choices and otherwise it's sort of a "flat" story.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this one a little more than the first one of the series. Good story and characters however it did drag on at times. In saying that, it was very suspenseful and I did not want to put the book down.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little romp in France where a former thief turned CIA contractor tries to thwart an assination at a G8 summit while people try to kill him.

[Judy Short · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tommy Carmellini is my favorite Stephen Coonts character. Never sure if he is going to survive until the end of the book. Exciting and funny at times.

[Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Coonts putting two generations of his heroes into a team effort. The author continues to be entertaining.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

AUDIBLE BOOK
Tommy Carmellini #2
Tommy thwarts a G8 assassination attempt

[RL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good follow-up to the beginning novel of this series. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like it as much as Liars and Thieves but it is a good book.

[Debi Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

3

[Joe Bulger · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic