Ah, Treachery! (Paperback)

by Ross Thomas (Author), Joe Gores (Introduction) "At 7:33 P.M. on Christmas Eve in 1992, the tall man with hair the color of pewter entered Wanda Lou's Weaponry in Sheridan, Wyoming, and..." (more)
Key Phrases: intelligence treachery, dead doorman, black overnight bag, Jessica Carver, Millicent Altford, Shawnee Viar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Past and present sins involving covert army operations and shady campaign financing give rise to murder in this sprightly new suspense thriller from two-time Edgar winner Ross (Voodoo, Ltd.). In 1989, army major Edd "Twodees" Partain took part in an illegal operation in El Salvador that his former comrades now want expunged from the record. Meanwhile, top political fund-raiser Millicent Altford needs to recover $1.2 million in stolen under-the-table contributions. These two scenarios dovetail as Altford engineers to have Partain, who was drummed out of the service for assaulting a superior officer, fired from his job in a Wyoming gun store in order to hire him to "ride shotgun" as she goes after the loot. As their associates begin meeting violent, sometimes shockingly brutal, ends, Partain and Altford seek to flush out their enemies (among whom military honchos figure prominently), recover the money and keep themselves alive. Set primarily in L.A. and D.C., Thomas's yarn reaffirms his expertise at the black-humored political thriller, from the sarcastic title and swift pacing through the acronym for a veterans' outfit (Victims of Military Intelligence Treachery) to Altford's offhand remark that "Little Rock" is "real, real grateful for the two hundred and fifty-four thousand I bundled up for them, not the party, just three days after the New Hampshire primary." As usual with Thomas, the plotting is intricate and nearly as difficult to follow as that of his fellow iconoclast Carl Hiaasen, but readers willing to stick with his unpredictable, sometimes loopy story line will surely enjoy the ride. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
"Ah, treachery! One of history's favorite shortcuts." Now there is a signature Ross Thomas line. Look closely, and you'll see all the ingredients: a special mix of world-weary resignation and bitter irony; an implied sense of knowing a whole lot more about how things work than you or I do; and a nice, healthy dollop of mischievousness. This is Thomas' twenty-fifth novel, and it offers a return to one of the author's favorite haunts: Washington, D.C., and the treacherous (there's that word again) double-dealing of an assortment of behind-the-scenes types from both Capitol Hill and the Pentagon. It's early 1993, just prior to the Clinton inauguration, and cashiered army major Edd (with two d's; hence his nickname, Twodees) Partain finds himself riding shotgun for political fund-raiser Milicent Altford, who has lost 1.2 million in very soft money and fears for her life. What follows is a typical Thomas plot of labyrinthine complexity involving dirty doings in Central America (including the "disappearing" of Twodees' Salvadoran wife), the deadly cover-up attempt of two nasty army intelligence types, and the counterintelligence activities of a group calling itself VOMIT (Victims of Military Intelligence Treachery). As usual, the various plot elements are forged into an architecturally stunning whole, and the interplay between characters leaves us wishing we could, just once, see the world as clearly and react as shrewdly as a Ross Thomas hero. Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312327048
• ISBN-13: 978-0312327040
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #322,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Swan Song For Thomas, November 22, 2000

By	Skip Senneka (Mound, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ah, Treachery! (Paperback)

I've read at least half of Thomas' twenty some novels and I don't know that I could rate any of them higher than "Ah, Treachery!"(a pretty strong statement considering how fondly and vividly I remember "The Fools In Town Are On Our Side", even after twenty-five years). Thomas has a dry and ironic tone in his fiction and a gift for understated outrageousness that is pretty nearly incomparable among today's writers. It's no exaggeration to say that Thomas does better in a paragraph what takes a goodly number of authors a page. He's been compared to Raymond Chandler, and I think he "out-Chandlers" Chandler. As I read Ah, Treachery!, knowing it was his last, I had to marvel at the control and effortlessness of the work--no fading talent here.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ross Thomas is addicting, March 13, 2006

By	Catherine A. Murau - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After having read 5 of Ross Thomas' books, I keep picking up another one. He writes with such style and wit that one wishes one could meet the characters. But perhaps they would be just too cool for us regular folks. His male characters are smart and well-dressed and tough. His female characters are smart and well-dressed and tough. "Ah, Treachery!" is an excellent story about intrigue and the US military and second chances and revenge and impeccable taste in dress and getting the girl.

Read a Ross Thomas novel. You won't regret it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darkly funny with great characters and engaging dialogue., February 20, 2005

By	Michael G. "mikefromrochester" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Millicent Altford of Los Angeles is a Democratic Party insider of long standing. A $1.2 million slush fund has been stolen from right under her nose and she is determined to get it back. To assist her in this task, she hires an ex-Army major by the name of Edd "Twodees" Partain.
Meanwhile back in Washington, D.C., two active Army officers, a colonel and a general, plot to have Mr. Partain rubbed out. You see, he has information linking them to some very serious crimes committed in El Salvador some 3 or 4 years earlier.
Ah, Treachery! has a lot in common with many other Ross Thomas novels. Deliciously bizarre characters, intricate plotting with an abundance of surprising twists and very engaging dialogue are all here, just as we've come to expect from Thomas.
Darkly funny with a body count that steadily increases as the narrative unfolds, Ah, Treachery! is a very entertaining book. The dialogue is exceptionally good and there's plenty of it. I particularly enjoyed a scene where Millicent Altford tells the political facts of life to a newly elected Congressman and a wet behind the ears subcommittee counsel.
This is the last novel Thomas wrote and it is a very fitting finale to an illustrious and prolific writing career. Age did not diminish his literary prowess one bit.