The Machiavelli Covenant

Allan Folsom

Nicholas Marten has been working in England the past few years. He life long friend, Caroline, calls him back to Washington DC because she is dying. She believes she was murdered by a poison of some sort. She also suspects that the airplane crash that killed her husband and son a weeks earlier was intentional rather that an accident. By the time he arrives at her hospital bedside, she is unconscious. She regains consciousness a couple times, telling him a little, but not much, before she dies. He tries to talk to her doctor. The woman is terrified of something and runs from Marten rather than talking with him or anyone else.

Marten is accused of murder. He knows the dead person committed suicide but can't say anything. Marten is then escorted off US soil and sent back to England. But he is caught up now into the mystery surrounding Caroline's death. Instead of England, he heads to Malta to meet Dr. Fox, a scientist who had been involved in biological warfare in South Africa.

President John Henry Harris is traveling to Spain to address a conference before he continues on to a NATO conference in Warsaw. He is approached by some trusted friends in a meeting. In their request, Harris learns of a plot that is illegal and would shake up the world. Now Harris has to discover who he can trust - and who he can't. If he doesn't succeed in revealing the plot, assassinations will begin in Warsaw at the conference.

Allan Folsom again delivers nail-biting suspense in The Machiavelli Covenant. The situations seem impossible yet Folsom pulls them together. OK, it's a bit too unbelievable. There are too many half-second away from being caught incidents.

Even so, The Machiavelli Covenant is exciting and scary all at the same time. It confirms all the possibilities that conspiracy theorists put together. Folsom's writing is fast paced and strikes the right tones. At one point the President forms a trust with another man. They call each other "cousin" to show their trust. Yet the other man also will revert and call Harris "Mr. President" when the situation demands respect for the office rather than the trust between two men.

The Machiavelli Covenant is twisted and unbelievable, yet keeps the reader on the edge of the seat all through. Each almost expected track suddenly turns a new direction. Folsom overdid the edginess, but with a bit of suspended belief, The Machiavelli Covenant is a good read.

Notice:  Graphic violence