The Red Syndrome: A Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller (Dan Gordon Thrillers) [Hardcover]

Haggai Carmon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2006 | Series: Dan Gordon Thrillers

Fact: The attacks of September 11, 2001, brought terror to our doorstep. Fact: Suicide bombers, attacks on mass transit, the leveling of hotels and nightclubs followed elsewhere. Fact: Terrorists' endgame is maximum civilian casualties through minimum effort. Question: What's next?
Haggai Carmon's timely new intelligence thriller, The Red Syndrome, describes a plausible and frighteningly simple terrorist conspiracy: Introduce a lethal biological weapon into the nation’s food supply in a way never before imagined. Which Americans belong to the Iranian-backed Islamic fundamentalist splinter group that threatens the U.S. population? Can they be stopped?
This exciting sequel to Haggai Carmon's Triple Identity again features ex-Mossad agent Dan Gordon, who now works for the U.S. Department of Justice. Like Triple Identity, The Red Syndrome begins with Gordon on the trail of what appears to be straightforward case of money-laundering.
But in the Byzantine world of dirty money and offshore accounts, multiple layers are the rule, not the exception. Crime breeds strange mutations. Here, you sleep with one eye open. Always. Gordon's investigation of dubious Russian mob money transfers is now assigned to the CIA. The plot quickly turns to a hunt for a devastating bio-terror weapon, a hunt that features murder, coded messages, kidnapping, breathtaking desert chases, and betrayals along the way.
With fast-paced action on three continents, good guys may not always have the upper hand. Problem is: who is good and who is bad? This insider intelligence thriller rivets the reader through to its surprising end.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Carmon's fictional alter ego in his somewhat disappointing second Dan Gordon thriller (after 2005's Triple Identity) is also an Israeli-born attorney working for the U.S. Department of Justice; Gordon is pursuing a money laundering and terror financing ring linked to the Russian mafia. A chance sighting of a missing person poster in New York City leads him to crack a code and suspect that Islamic terrorists are targeting the U.S. with a lethal blend of E. coli and hemorrhagic fever. Carmon's real-world experience with legal intelligence gathering lends authenticity to many details, but the author falters with some unlikely plotting. For an experienced ex-Mossad agent, Gordon makes a number of amateurish mistakes (e.g., revealing top-secret information to a sexy but untrustworthy federal agent) that imperil his life and mission. Still, those who aren't sticklers should enjoy the ride. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Dan Gordon, the former Mossad agent now working with the U.S. Department of Justice, returns in this altogether superior sequel to the author's first novel, Triple Identity (2005). Where that one had a plot-holey story and almost comically bad prose, this one is tight and fluidly written. While investigating what appears to be a routine money-laundering scheme involving the Russian Mafia, Gordon stumbles on a plot to unleash a bioweapon on the world. The Israeli-born Carmon, who (like Gordon) works with the Justice Department, obviously knows whereof he writes. Readers who were disappointed by Triple Identity should give this one a try. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Steerforth; First Edition edition (July 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586421050
• ISBN-13: 978-1586421052
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,003,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My intelligence thrillers were inspired by my Israeli professional background, as well as by my twenty years of service for the United States Government. During those years, I had a publicly known 'daytime' activity as well as a covert 'nighttime' activity. Since 1985, I have been representing the United States government in its Israeli civil ligation appearing in Israeli courts in lawsuits to which the U.S was a party. However, away from the public eye, I was also engaged by the U.S government to perform intelligence gathering in multi-million dollar white-collar crime cases that required sensitive undercover work in more than thirty countries. Obviously, in my years working for the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies, I could not share the hair-raising aspects of my work with anyone but my supervisors, and some adventures not even with them. Sadly, many of these events, which are sometimes more fascinating and breathtaking than the best fiction I have ever read, will never see the light of day. The story of Dan Gordon and his battle against the invisible FOE ' forces of evil'is my idea of the next-best thing.

A globetrotting legal practice has left little time for hobbies. However, one night in a small hotel in a faraway country, I finally had the time to fulfill my urge to write. I was on U.S government assignment collecting intelligence on a particularly vile and violent criminal organization. Earlier that evening, I'd received a phone call from the local INTERPOL contact. "You've been exposed. I suggest you stay in your hotel. We'll arrange for your safe departure tomorrow morning." Is it any wonder I couldn't sleep that night, between jet lag and the rage that came from being unarmed and unable to leave the hotel without my hosts' protection? I poured it all into the writing, and the result was Triple Identity.

That book turned out not to be a fluke; I wrote the sequels because I realized I still had adventures to recount, including about events surrounding that same long and sleepless night.

Readers have also asked since Triple Identity and the Red Syndrome's publication whether the events recounted there really happened. One newspaper reviewer even accused me of writing "too authentic" a novel, while another reviewer praised me for it. How can you argue with that? My next thrillers may meet a similar reaction. As to how much of them is "true," I leave it to my readers to decide. All my thrillers were inspired by my work for the U.S. government, but they are a work of fiction rather than autobiography. During those two decades, I was assigned the demanding, sometimes-dangerous task of collecting legal intelligence on white-collar criminals who had absconded from the United States. These individuals usually left with the money they stole to another more welcoming jurisdiction than the United States, which frowns on people who steal millions and launder them. That explains why sometimes, waking up in countless hotels in more than thirty countries, I had trouble remembering where I was. Walking in the long corridors of foreign airports, it was hard to remember whether I was arriving or departing.

More thrillers in the series are to follow. In my professional life, I have had enough adventures, frequently dangerous, to fill at least ten books, and those are just the ones I can talk about.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We interrupt this conflict to bring you The Red Syndrome, August 13, 2006

By 

Alexey (Philadelphia, Panama) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Syndrome: A Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller (Dan Gordon Thrillers) (Hardcover)

Slightly after midnight, I picked up my freshly-delivered Red Syndrome from the bed stand and began to read. It was supposed to be like any other book I've used to fall asleep - a chapter or two, and off to bed.

I blinked. My eyes, tearing from exhaustion, had difficulty comprehending the time on my dimly lit cell-phone. It was three-thirty in the morning; I had been kidnapped by Carmon's world of vigilante Justice Department lawyers fighting red tape and Mossad agents bartering in vital intelligence. I blinked again and sighed - I had escaped my captor, but to what end?

I should mention that I serve in the Israeli military. The next morning, I showed up bleary eyed and mumbling something about a bio-terror threat. This was during the Lebanese conflict. As I explained to my superior officer, it was all Carmon's fault.

He didn't buy it. My advice is this: if you plan on reading the Red Syndrome, please make sure you don't have a war to fight first.

Otherwise, set up an available weekend and prepare to emerge, at least for a day or two, into this masterpiece of an intelligence thriller. Dan Gordon, a character so heavily based on Carmon you can't help but wonder whether an intelligence background lurks beneath the surface of this author's biography, is at it again.

The plot is complex yet concise: A mafia money-laundering ring leads to an eccentric terrorist group, leading Gordon on a worldwide excursion, following and being followed, navigating through a world where danger is both imminent and unexpected. This in turn leads to a remarkable, intelligent, fast-paced read that builds upon and bests even Carmon's first novel, Triple Identity.

Look, my country's literally at war right now and I'm on Amazon reviewing a book. It's that good.

I just hope I can read the next one in peace.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Surprise, August 9, 2006

By 

G. Crockett (Lee, Ma.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Syndrome: A Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller (Dan Gordon Thrillers) (Hardcover)

After reading "Triple Identity" the sequel with Dan Gordon was

eagerly awaited. It didn't disapoint and involved more plot twists that were not expected as Dan investigated bio-terrorism

threats. Bought several copies for friends, although I don't expect they will last more than a few days beside the pool. Almost impossible to put down, and then like after a good meal,

you hunger for more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars RED SYNDROME by Haggai Carmon, August 23, 2008

By 

Benjamin Boulden (The High Desert) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Syndrome (Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller) (Mass Market Paperback)

THE RED SYNDROME is Haggai Carmon's second novel, and the second to feature Department of Justice attorney Dan Gordon--Gordon specializes in tracking stolen and suspicious money across national borders. He originally appeared in Carmon's first Intelligence Thriller TRIPLE IDENTITY.

The novel opens with Gordon investigating a routine money-laundering operation in a small New York bank. The Russian mafia is moving large sums of money from the Seychelles Islands (a safe haven for unregulated banking and tax evasion), but the case changes quickly when Gordon puts two seemingly unrelated events together and realizes something much more sinister is happening.

The CIA is called in to lead the investigation and Gordon finds himself relegated to investigative staff; a position that doesn't sit well with his lone wolf mentality. He has trouble with authority, except his own boss, and when he discovers three encrypted messages at the bank under investigation he takes them home--rather than the office--and decodes a frightening message. The money in question doesn't belong to the Russian mafia, but rather to an international terrorist organization with big plans.

THE RED SYNDROME is an entertaining and swift thriller. Its style is solid and readable. The technical details are fascinating; Haggai Carmon knows International finance and he makes it interesting. The plot is smooth, and while I guessed a major plot twist in the first third of the novel, he throws enough curves to keep the reader interested and turning pages.

Dan Gordon is a character that is not only likable and capable, but one worth rooting for. He's larger than life, but Mr. Carmon also gives him enough blemishes and idiosyncrasies to make him interesting and relevant. If you enjoy a thriller with plenty of action, exotic locations and a heap of technical information THE RED SYNDROME will do.

--Gravetapping