I'm back with a new review

Hey all, sorry for the hiatus but I had to go on vacation. While I was gone, I had a great book to keep me company. Here is a review.

A Review
The Traitor In Us All
By Robert S. Levinson
Five Star
February, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59414-852-1
Hardcover, 378 pp., $25.95
Reviewed by W.S. Gager

I received an ARC for Robert S. Levinson’s The Traitor in Us All and saved it for the eight hours of plane rides and airport sitting on my vacation. That was a bad move on my part because when I arrived, I was only three quarters of the way through the book and it wasn’t a vacation that lent itself to reading.

The Traitor in Us All is a perfect title for a book whose characters changes allegiances as one side is crossed and then double crossed to save an innocent’s life. The book loosely chronicles Jack Sothern’s professional life as an investigative reporter. The love of his life maneuvers him into the story of a lifetime from behind the iron curtain when he is young and unjaded. He can’t keep his end of the bargain to hold the story until the couple are out from behind the iron curtain. That costs him his love and professional career. That mistake spirals his life into failure and the haze of drug and alcohol abuse.

His purported salvation comes when two girls are murdered at their favorite pizza hang out and third teen is abducted. He offers his services to the mother who runs a high-class bordello and was the subject of his story that resulted in his fall from grace. Throughout the book several characters decide what it will take to betray their friends and alliances. As the last pages roll by, the sides change with the paragraphs and wrap up with a bow at the end. (I can’t go much further without spoiling the surprises.)

While the book is set in the here and now, there is back story which depicts the difficulties and politics of the cold war. The book realistically outlines the conflicts of the past, democracy behind the Berlin Wall and how old enemies must work together. Will crosses and double crosses be enough to save a young woman’s life? I suggest reading to find out.

Levinson’s characterizations are vivid and three dimensional and their weaknesses and poor decisions seem all too real. Sothern is a likeable and true to his character but disappears through long segments of the book as other action revolves to set up the climax. My favorite character is the kidnapped girl who refuses to be a victim during an ordeal which could crush lesser spirits.

This read is highly recommended. On my first night in my exotic vacation location I made it an early night to finish my reading! What could be better than I couldn’t put it down!

Disclaimer: Special Thanks to Robert Levinson for supplying the book for review.