The secret-agent wife a Doctors Without Borders physician thought had been killed at the beginning of Rules of Deception (2008) is still alive enough to make big trouble for him and the rest of the world. Dr. Jonathan Ransom, who's left Africa to address a conference in London, is conveniently on hand when Lord Robert Russell is murdered in his Mayfair penthouse by a wraithlike intruder, available to meet his wife Emma when she unexpectedly pops up in town, and right on the scene when she detonates a bomb directed at a motorcade passing through Storey's Gate. Wounded Russian Interior Minister Igor Ivanov tells DCI Kate Ford and Colonel Charles Graves of MI5 that he was the intended target, but they're more concerned with catching the bomber. Emma, a veteran agent of Division, the U.S. Department of Defense agency that "ran the blackest of black ops," has of course vamoosed, leaving her husband to hold the bag, and in short order the Metropolitan Police oblige by arresting him. Fans of Reich's greased-lightning thrillers, however, won't expect Jonathan to be charged and jailed. Instead, they'll wait, like him, for the moment when he can overpower his captors and make his escape to the continent, across which the authorities chase him as avidly as he's chasing Emma, who's evidently determined to blow up a nuclear reactor. Just to keep things interesting, Reich also throws in a couple of wild cards: Frank Connor, ambitious new acting director of Division, whose agenda may not be exactly the same as Emma's, and Ivanov's rival Sergei Shvets, the even more megalomaniacal head of Russia's Federal Security Service. Will Europe end with a bang? Will brilliant, clueless Jonathan enjoy a tearful reunion with the wife who keeps bamboozling him? Will he at least be able to clear himself of criminal charges? And what about the sequel? Like 007's obsession with Blofeld, Jonathan's hyperinflated connubial problems seem intended to turn international terrorism into good, clean human-scale fun. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Near the start of bestseller Reich's stellar sequel to Rules of Deception, Dr. Jonathan Ransom flies from Africa to London for a medical conference. That same day, intermediaries arrange for him to meet his fugitive wife, Emma, once a secret agent with the Pentagon group known as Division, in a cheap hotel. The next day, Jonathan's world is literally and figuratively torn apart after a large car bomb explodes in Westminster, seriously injuring the Russian interior minister. Jonathan is sure Emma is behind the car bombing, but the police, led by Det. Chief Insp. Kate Ford, think Jonathan is responsible. Thus begins a convoluted chase-Jonathan hunting his wife, Kate and the cops along with MI5 agent Colonel Graves tracking Jonathan. Everyone, including the reader, remains clueless, except for master spy Emma, as to who is really the guilty party. A blinding twist at the end adds a spectacular fillip to a masterful performance by one of the genre's elite. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Doctors without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom's life was shattered when he thought his wife, Emma, was dead, but then he learned she was a spy, had faked her death, and is on the run from a secret American defense agency. Now working in Africa under a different name, Ransom tries to move on, though he still misses his wife and jumps at the opportunity to combine a trip to London for a conference with a weekend rendezvous with her. Unfortunately, the plan goes badly awry when a convoy of limousines is attacked by terrorists. Was Emma responsible? Facing imprisonment unless he helps capture Emma, Jonathan escapes and sets out to find his wife and determine if she really is masterminding terrorist attacks. This one is as good, if not better, than Rules of Deception (2008), moving Reich to the forefront of the action-heavy, high-octane wing of espionage fiction.--Ayers, Jeff Copyright 2009 Booklist