The Paris Betrayal

The Paris Betrayal reminds us of just how fun and exciting reading fiction can be! Hannibal gets the hook in early, and then pulls the reader through the story to the grand finish.

The story follows the plight of Ben, a shamed spy left out in the cold by his mother agency, as he not only tries to evade capture (or worse), but also singlehandedly attempts to prevent a global disaster from happening.

Ben, the protagonist, is an odd duck. He seems to be highly competent at what he does, yet he continually repeats to himself things that he learned in basic spy school. “Get far fast. Then go farther faster,” is a mantra that he repeated to himself many times. However, with these little remembrances throughout the story, Ben gives the reader some free spy training.

“The heart of field ops is flexibility. Missions go wrong. Deal with it. Regroup and try another angle.”
—Spy School Schoolmaster

I liked many things about this story and the way Hannibal wrote it. First, I liked how he used the characters. There is Ben, of course, and there is a definite antagonist (who we don’t actually meet until late in the story), but all the other characters come and go as needed for the story.

Some of the characters try to help Ben, others – not so much. However (and this is especially cool, in my opinion), Hannibal gives enough information about all the characters that the reader can form good, solid pictures of them. For example, at one point Ben comes across a very salty sea captain. The part he plays in the story is small, yet significant, but I come away with a very good idea of his appearance and personality. I’d probably even recognize him on the street if I saw him. (That would be scary!)

“The investigation and trial are over, leaving nothing but the binary. A one or a zero. Either you’re innocent or you’re guilty.”

Another thing that Hannibal does so very well is pacing. He knows how to not only get the reader interested quickly, but also how to keep the reader interested. I read this book rather quickly because I literally couldn’t wait to see what happened next. The author makes this easy to do because the story moves along at a good pace. Not once did I notice the pace slacking.

Part of the plot loosely includes the impact of a deadly virus. In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, Hannibal makes it a point to tell the reader that he was nearly done with the first draft when COVID-19 hit. He went back and did some good editing to incorporate COVID-19 and its impact on the world. To me, this added to the realism of the story.

Fiction is fun and exciting to read – when it’s good – and this story proves it! I’m turning into a huge James R. Hannibal fan! If you enjoy reading fun and exciting stories – you should too!