Dan Gordon works undercover for the U. S. Department of Justice, pursuing money launderers and white-collar criminals who flee the country. Why the need to go undercover? Because many of his targets are among the world’s most dangerous terrorists.
Gordon worked for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, for three years. When one of his covers was blown, he was relegated to a desk job. Wanting to continue to use his talents where they belong—in the field—he began working with the U.S. government.
Now Gordon is embarking on a join Mossad/CIA venture—to track down Hezbollah’s money source and their complex financial organization. This assignment takes him to South America, Africa, England, and Eastern Europe, requiring him to take on multiple identities and face danger at every stop.
The mission employs numerous operatives. Performing as double agents, these people often change sides, working for the highest bidder. At one point, Gordon is brutally beaten and lands in a Romanian jail. Did one of these men unintentionally leak information, or was he was he set up by one of his own people? He knows that there are very few whom he can trust.
Triangle of Deception, the fourth book in the Dan Gordon series, is filled with so many characters, schemes, and twists that, initially, it’s difficult to keep track of it all. I’m glad that I hung in there, though, as it soon comes together, and, after it did, I wasn’t able to put the book down. This is real intrigue, without all the glamour and fluff.
Then again, that’s not surprising, since author Haggai Carmon knows what he’s talking about. For twenty years, he led a double life. An attorney by day, he represented the U.S. government in civil ligation in Israel; but by night he was employed by the U.S. government to go undercover into over thirty countries to gather intelligence on multi-million-dollar white-collar criminals. Though he’s not allowed to divulge his work—which he claims was often more spine-tingling than the best crime thrillers—his fictional Dan Gordon and his life of espionage is the next best thing. He also has a very real message to the reader: “read the writing on the wall!” Terrorists and the countries that sponsor them must be stopped.
Whatever your political beliefs, though, Triangle of Deception is a must-read for fans of complex and chilling crime novels. Though this is my first Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller, it definitely won’t be my last.
(review previously appeared on www.nightsandweekends.com)
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