The Traitor (Center Point Platinum Mystery (Large Print)) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Stephen Coonts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2006 | Series: Center Point Platinum Mystery (Large Print)

The death of a French intelligence agent on an Air France flight to Amman, Jordan, is the trigger that launches Tommy Carmellini`s latest adventure.

Within the European Union, the national espionage agencies are fiercely competing for supremacy against each other -- and against the CIA. When the Americans discover that the director of the French spy agency has secret investments in the Bank of Palestine, alarm bells go off. To investigate, the Americans send Jake Grafton, who has been brought back from retirement to unravel a tangle of espionage, terrorism and murder. And of course, the man Grafton wants on the point is Tommy Carmellini.

Together they uncover an elaborate strategy to infiltrate the highest levels of Al Qaeda with a top-level plant -- but who is playing whom? As Carmellini delves deep undercover he finds he is running for his life. Grafton and Carmellini uncover a horrifying plan to shake the West as never before -- and a Catch-22: Can they stop the conspiracy without compromising the intelligence source that could bring down Al Qaeda once and for all?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Coonts's assured new international thriller, Tommy Carmellini, the sardonic, laid-back CIA agent who became a star in 2004's Liars & Thieves, gets a shot at the big time in his second featured outing when he's asked to drop his routine work and help find out why the director of French intelligence is making large, secret investments in the Bank of Palestine. Tommy wonders if he's the right man for the job; his own espionage experience in France is limited to being "assistant passport officer at the embassy." When his controller tells him that the new head of European Ops asked for Tommy by name, it turns out to be the unretired Jake Grafton (the longtime star of his own Coonts series), described by Carmellini as "the toughest son of a bitch wearing shoe leather." With support from Grafton; an enigmatic, seductive CIA agent, Sarah Houston; and a nifty little electronic weapon that Coonts says is really being tested, Tommy zeroes in on the high-level traitor who could do him—and the world—a lot of damage. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Coonts knows how to write and build suspense… a natural storyteller."--The New York Times Book Review

 

"An assured international thriller."--Publishers Weekly

 

"The prevailing spook mode shifts from cloak to dagger, and suddenly the guys they thought were watching their backs are aiming at them."--Kirkus Reviews
 
"The Traitor contains layer upon layer of deceit and deception…plenty of fistfights and explosions…. Coonts's trademark excitement keep[s] the pages turning to the book's ultimate conclusion."--Bookreporter.com
 
"Vintage Coonts...plenty of action and intrigue."--Dallas Morning News on Liars & Thieves

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 478 pages
• Publisher: Center Point Large Print (September 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585478172
• ISBN-13: 978-1585478170
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,220,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Coonts is the author of 14 New York Times bestsellers, the first of which was the classic flying tale, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER.
Born in 1946, Stephen Paul Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a coal-mining town of 6,000 population on the western slope of the Appalachian mountains. He majored in political science at West Virginia University, graduating in 1968 with an A.B. degree. Upon graduation he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and began flight training in Pensacola, Florida.
He received his Navy wings in August, 1969. After completion of fleet replacement training in the A-6 Intruder aircraft, Mr. Coonts reported to Attack Squadron 196 at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. He made two combat cruises aboard USS Enterprise during the final years of the Vietnam War as a member of this squadron. 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. He left active duty in 1977 and moved to Colorado. After short stints as a taxi driver and police officer, he entered the University of Colorado School of Law in the fall of 1977.
Mr. Coonts received his law degree in December, 1979, and moved to West Virginia to practice. He returned to Colorado in 1981 as a staff attorney specializing in oil and gas law for a large independent oil company.
His first novel, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER, published in September 1986 by the Naval Institute Press, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover. A motion picture based on this novel, with the same title, was released nationwide in January 1991.
The success of his first novel allowed Mr. Coonts to devote himself full time to writing; he has been at it ever since. He and his wife, Deborah, enjoy flying and try to do as much of it as possible.
Mr. Coonts' books have been widely translated and republished in the British Commonwealth, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, China, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Latvia, and Israel.
Mr. Coonts was a trustee of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1990-1998. He was inducted into the West Virginia University Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 1992. The U.S. Naval Institute honored him with its Author of the Year Award for the year 1986 for his novel, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER. Mr. Coonts and his wife, Deborah, reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER TOPNOTCH THRILLER AND ACES VOICE PERFORMANCE, July 10, 2006

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Traitor: A Tommy Carmellini Novel (Audio CD)

An international thriller by Stephen Coonts deserves an exceptional narration and that is precisely what film and television actor Dennis Boutsikaris provides. At times gruff, at other times forbidding, he always imbues his characters with a defining vocal twist.

As Coonts fans know and appreciate this author wastes no time in hooking readers/listeners attention. This time it's with the death of a French intelligence agent on an Air France flight to Amman, Jordan. Such an untimely demise leads Jake Grafton, now CIA operations officer in charge of Europe to suspect that the director of French intelligence has a spy planted among top Al Queda.

Does the French director vehemently deny this? Of course, he does.

There's only one person Grafton can rely on in a life and death situation, and it's Tommy Carmellini. Seems that would be an intrepid duo and that they are. But it takes more than strength and intelligence to figure out who is spying on whom and what may happen when the leaders of the G-8 nations meet in Paris. It's especially difficult to find the truth when their lives are in danger.

Another topnotch thriller from Coonts and aces performance by Boutsikaris.

- Gail Cooke

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For truth and Justice all the way, August 2, 2006

By 

Tyler S. Ferguson (Wheaton, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Traitor (Tommy Carmellini, Book 2) (Hardcover)

Knowing that you have to read in order to write, I find Stephen Coonts writing superb. His command of military structure and knowledge of world events that he weaves into his narration has no equal. The Traitor is the kind of novel that takes you into the back alleys of Europe. No one does this type of adventure better than Coonts.

The two things I like best about the book are the characters and the settings. Mr. Coonts has the uncanny ability to shape and weave a character into a plot that seamlessly holds your interest as you turn page after page. I usually find his books too short, even though the publisher would usually have him cut the pages.

The settings of Europe can't help but draw one into the story. One of the things I like most about Mr. Coonts books are the absolute honesty of Jake Grafton and his other characters. They stand for what they believe in which seems to be in short supply today.

I find books like this far more refreshing than the Da Vinci Code with its secrets and made up plots. A great read.

TS Ferguson, Author of Apocrypha

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Traitor; down a different road., August 21, 2006

By 

T. Ballou (Canyon Lake, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Traitor (Tommy Carmellini, Book 2) (Hardcover)

Another boomer from Stephen Coonts. He proves that Jake Grafton can play a great commanding/supporting role as well as the action hero. Tommy Carmenelli continues to develop as a serious character. This book is well edited as well. I could find none of the technical or grammatical glitches so common in otherwise good books today. It's good quality literature and some excitement for the money.