Secrets and techniques, Lies and Betrayals
by Lynn Wooden
Style: Thriller, Thriller & Suspense / Political
ISBN: 9798990302914
Print Size: 349 pages
Reviewed by Erin Britton
A prescient political thriller that neatly balances the human aspect of tragedy and intrigue
A globe-trotting, tense, and twist-laden political thriller, Lynn Wooden’s Secrets and techniques, Lies and Betrayals is so cannily modern that it may virtually be “ripped from the headlines” stuff.
Triggered by the fracturing of the delicate hope of peace within the Center East after which ramped up by a very contentious US presidential election, the story whizzes alongside at breakneck velocity as heroes and villains collide and common people duck and hope for the very best.
Nonetheless, the story begins on a deceptively hopeful be aware “as the usually fitful, stumbling, one-step ahead, two-steps again course of in direction of a significant peace was negotiated, arm-twisted, backtracked, sidestepped till lastly an settlement was reached each side may reside with and their respective governments reluctantly assented to.” The architect of the promised peace, Senator Mac McMillan, is in Tel Aviv to witness the signing of the historic treaty by the presidents of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. It’s an auspicious however not uncontentious event.
One individual is actually having fun with the occasion although: the Senator’s three-year-old granddaughter, Lea, who manages to flee her mom and run towards her grandfather simply because the signing ceremony is about to start. However in stepping ahead and sweeping up his granddaughter, he makes a tragic mistake.
“The blast of a single, unsilenced shot rang out, shattering that hope in a bloody, calculated immediate.” The bullet finds its goal, Senator McMillan, however solely after encountering an unintended sufferer alongside the way in which. “A single bullet struck his younger granddaughter, handed via her smooth flesh and tissue, earlier than getting into his robust coronary heart, killing him immediately.” If there may be any luck to be discovered that day, it lies in the truth that Maxwell Cole, former soldier and present diplomatic safety officer, is there to whisk the severely injured Lea away in a Medevac chopper.
And he really finally ends up doing way over that. Whereas Lea survives the murderer’s bullet, she turns into the goal of one thing far worse: fanaticism. This hazard follows her wherever she goes, resulting in her being hidden away at a European boarding college. As eighteen-year-old Lea describes it, “Hate couldn’t even declare its full measure of triumph, as a result of I survived, and in doing so, turned a logo of American privilege and conceitedness, always interfering in worlds past its concern.” Fortunately, Max is there to assist, information, and defend her has she grows up.
What’s extra, when Lea decides to attend faculty in Paris, which has the twin benefits of serving to her keep away from the inevitable media circus within the US and permitting her to keep away from her father’s political ambitions and his new household, she asks Max to accompany her. “It looks like a spot a woman can get misplaced in…or stay misplaced, in my case.” After Max secures them a grand residence within the Sixteenth Arrondissement, he persuades Lea that she must get pleasure from life and freedom as an eighteen 12 months outdated, which results in a three-month pre-college vacation in Rome.
Extra importantly, it’s in Rome that Lea discovers a love of artwork and begins to suppose that she might need lastly discovered her objective in life. Her faculty profession passes shortly and Lea finds success in Rome, each professionally and personally. Her expertise as a sculptor is acknowledged and her work is represented by the celebrated Barone Gallery. She additionally finds romance with the good-looking and really wealthy Conte Gabriel Lazio. Issues are going suspiciously nicely, actually, till politics intervenes as soon as once more. A shady cabal of “the wealthiest, most influential names within the nation” want to purchase the following US presidential election and Lea’s father is their candidate of alternative.
When the media frenzy surrounding his marketing campaign turns to the difficulty of his elusive daughter (“The extra frantic the Senator’s pleas for his daughter’s privateness, the extra infected the seek for any info surrounding Michaela turned”), Lea’s fastidiously crafted new life comes crashing down round her. Because the threats and hazard mount from all sides, Lea has to depend on Max to maintain her protected and monitor down the one who leaked her new id earlier than any extra harm will be finished.
Secrets and techniques, Lies and Betrayals is an alarmingly sensible thriller primarily based on each modern subjects and deep-seated conspiracy theories. From the battle within the Center East to the media frenzy to the deep state and MAGA activism, Lynn Wooden bases her worldbuilding on actual world occasions and precise beliefs, however she turns the dial as much as eleven by including in loads of motion and suspense. This can be a twisty thriller the place virtually all the principle characters are holding secrets and techniques and the place the significance is each private and international.
Time passes fairly unusually within the novel. The assassination of Senator McMillan and the close to loss of life of Lea happen within the prologue, after which the principle physique of the novel begins with an eighteen-year-old Lea planning her future in Paris. From there, the years of her faculty schooling and her subsequent time in Rome move quickly, with simply sure highlights from the durations in query talked about. These time jumps can generally show a bit disorientating, however they’re vital to put the groundwork for the assorted crosses and double-crosses and to maneuver the story to the place it must be, significantly regarding long-term plot factors like Senator Manning’s political profession.
Secrets and techniques, Lies and Betrayals gives one thing of a whistlestop tour of main European cities—Paris, Rome, and Vienna—which provides tempo to the story and extra factors of curiosity. However the explicit focus is on the places the place the characters work together (in homes, at events, generally out on the road) moderately than on the broader surroundings. This strategy highlights the small print of the characters’ lives and helps with imagining their world moderately than seeing it intimately.
This deal with the characters’ extra home surroundings is indicative of simply how good the characterization within the novel is. Wooden actually excels on this regard, bringing collectively a forged of characters who stay comprehensible and relatable even after they’re embroiled in fairly stunning occasions. The “goodies” are sensible, with all the failings, quandaries, and inconsistencies to be anticipated of individuals doing their finest whereas dwelling via attention-grabbing occasions, and the “baddies” are delightfully conniving and nefarious. Plus, Wooden does such an important job of fostering suspicion and doubt relating to how far the conspiracies stretch that some impartial characters are initially marked out as duplicitous.
Maxwell Cole is notionally the principle character and he’s a real motion hero. Following the assassination of Senator McMillan, he arrange an organization that “provided state-of-the-art expertise to guard priceless possessions and properties, however specialised in offering skilled, knowledgeable groups of execs affording private safety to these in want of it.” Extra importantly, he stayed in Lea’s life as a constant father determine, all the time looking for to steadiness defending her with guaranteeing she may construct a life. He clearly has some mad navy abilities—and a shocking expertise for securing actual property—that are actually referred to as on because the story progresses. Additionally, not like most motion heroes, Wooden provides him a convincing private life outdoors of his job, maybe a shocking one even.
Nonetheless, for all of Max’s very important enter, the actual principal character is arguably Lea, who matures all through the novel from being an unsure and generally brattish teenager to being a decisive, courageous, and daring younger lady. From surviving the assassination of her grandfather onwards, she has been saddled with a tough life, which has left her considerably aloof and resigned, however with nice perception into individuals and her relationships with them. For instance, after specializing in explaining her faculty plans, “Immediately, she realized how silly she was to consider she was nonetheless the middle of her father’s life. He had a brand new spouse, a brand new life and now a brand new, long-awaited son on the way in which.”
In some ways, Lea serves as an everywoman character, demonstrating what it will be wish to be caught up in one thing manner past your management, with no risk of escape or dwelling a traditional life. Nonetheless, she has extra grit than many and finally doesn’t draw back from tackling the conspiracy she is wrapped up in head-on.
The connection between Lea and Gabriel provides one other dimension to each her character and the general plot. The romance is labored into the story nicely, and Gabriel—who actually has his personal share of household dramas—has an enticing character, bringing humor and help to the state of affairs Lea finds herself in.
Secrets and techniques, Lies and Betrayals is relayed from the views of varied characters, most notably Lea but additionally Max, Gabriel, Lea’s grandmother, a serious villain, and so forth., offering in-depth perception into their ideas and motivations. On this manner, the violence and conspiratorial revelations appear to unfold in actual time, including pressure and uncertainty to the story and guaranteeing {that a} quick tempo is maintained all through. As the primary ebook in a collection centered on Maxwell Cole, it’s thrilling to think about what Wooden can have in retailer for him subsequent.
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