F.J. Chase, Bargain with the Devil

Bargain with the Devil

F.J. Chase

Mira, May 1 2010, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778327776

Mercenaries Herbert Payne-Best and Pieter De Wet are hired for regime change in Central Africa. They offer security consultant Peter Avakian, an opportunity to makee a million euros for doing the advance legwork in Benin. Although he has doubts the French paratroopers will stay out of the country if the current leadership is removed, he accepts the job by attending their meeting; rejection equates to his death.

Avakian debates bringing in the CIA as he knows his employers will dispose of him after he is no longer of use while the agency sucks civilians and agents dry. However, he agrees to conduct undercover surveillance for the CIA hoping to come out of this entangled oily fiasco alive and with minimal damage to the innocent. His hope is not with the spooks who will protect their butts first and last, but with two women South African reporter Patience Mbatha and Darkness Under Heaven CIA compatriot Dr. Judy Gold.

Bargain with the Devil is a superb action-packed romantic suspense thriller starring a likable beleaguered gun-slinging hero who makes a bad first misstep by showing up at the "coup" meeting. Readers will enjoy Avakian's efforts to minimize collateral damage, prevent a coup, and save his life.

Harriet Klausner