Traitor » (Unabridged)

A savage terror bombing levels an aircraft research facility in France, as powerful men in Washington lean hard on Congress to approve funding for a controversial new fighter bomber program with a $300 billion price tag. The death toll in Europe is staggering. And retribution begins immediately— even before the guilty are clearly identified.

Lt. Col. John Reynolds is an honorable man and a loyal soldier. But murder haunts the halls of power. And the deadly aftermath of a social meeting with an old Army buddy turned defense contractor has placed everything Reynolds trusts and believes in against him. His world is threatened: his faith in the military he serves, his relationship with a beautiful young woman with a haunted past. Suddenly John Reynolds is at the top of every player's list of targets—and he doesn't even know why.

Publishers Weekly

"I do not imagine that a one-man crusade disguised as a thriller can change much," writes career soldier turned bestselling author Peters (The War in 2020, etc.) in an afterword to his knowing, deeply involving new thriller. Maybe not, but everybody inside the Beltway who deals with (or votes on) defense budget issues should read this beautifully crafted story about a man of principle trying against all odds to do the right thing. Lt. Col. John Reynolds is "one of a legion of staff officers sweating blood to keep an underfunded Army alive." Reynolds will be faced with even more savage budget cuts if a project called NFGB (Next Generation Fighter Bomber) gets the approval for which its corporate sponsor, Macon-Bolt Industries, is lobbying so hard. Two of Reynolds's old army buddies--an African-American general and an officer turned lobbyist for Macon-Bolt--die suddenly and suspiciously. When his live-in ladyfriend, singer Tish O'Malley, is apparently killed by a car bomb, Reynolds begins to realize his own life has somehow become linked with the fate of NGFB. In addition to superb scenes of action, there are many worthy opponents here, notably a sharply sketched military madman destroying pets and works of art for dramatic effect, and a pair of ruthless French agents limited only by their own country's budgetary problems. But the real villain of this smartly effective thriller with a message is a giant military-industrial-political complex determined to suck up as much public money it can while people like Reynolds (and Peters) nip at its heel.