The star of the show is Billy, a bad boy who has aged well and is intent upon collecting an old debt and setting himself up with some first grade hash to take him into his twilight years. When Billy is the viewpoint character, Sutherland's rules shines.
Other stars include Khan and Vlado, hot on Billy's trail. In a society without privacy, pulling off an amateur drug transport is a dicey business, but while Billy has a little extra up his sleeve, he isn't counting on a couple of marginalized border police who would like nothing better than to move on from busting cigarette smugglers and get back to the big time.
Of course, these two parties are on a collision course, and watching Ciriello work the nuances of this is particularly enjoyable.
The main character, however, is Christian. Christian and Billy go way back, but Christian has ended up running a small, successful company. Christian's wife Carol, joins in for the second half of the book.
I found myself wanting a little more from Christian and Carol: Perhaps something more at stake than a mid-life adventure; perhaps a more active participation in Billy's plan.
Sutherland's Rules returns to a common theme of nostalgia for a more freewheeling time, an open society, a world in which adventure is possible. The stifling effects of loss of privacy, government regulation, corporate influence are a recurring topic. Within this theme, Christian and Billy's Afghan-to-Netherlands-to-UK hash caper is a good, fun, gripping tale to contrast the "good old days" of a classic LeCarre with the networked, data-mined, comprehensively surveilled society we have found ourselves in.
A final, notable element to this story is a light sci-fi theme. Ciriello does not dive in deep on this one, but Billy's ace in the hole is the ability to observe inflection points and push the outcome just so, just enough to fall in his favor. Again, watching the world through Billy's fully-engaged eyes, experiencing these inflection points, was the books greatest strength.
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