THE PARIS OPTION / Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds.

The Paris Option is a solid action thriller, with the Covert-One team, led in the field by multi-talented Colonel John Smith (seen here as doctor, researcher, diplomat, agent, failed romantic, and loyal friend). Smith teams up with his long-time CIA and MI6 colleagues and a childhood friend / electronics genius. The team moves quickly and easily from US to Europe and Northern Africa in search of terrorists who are only a front for other terrorists who are only a front for the real evil-doers. This thing has plot twists within other enigmatic plot twists. For several chapters, we dont even know which of the protangonists are dead or alive. On the downside, the Covert-One team and their camp-followers have nearly unbelievable extra-ordinary moments, seemingly ripped from the Superman cartoons. Why can't three poorly armed agents battle an army of trained terrorists if they have a French actress also on their side? Why can't John Smith stowaway on a terrorist boat for several days with no weapons, occasionally killing a few meddlesome terrorists without being noticed? This is a good read for the beach. Enjoy it, but don't take it too seriously. The idea that our European allies would unite to form a second superpower and regard the US as an enemy seemed impossible until the most recent outbreak of lunacy at the United Nations.