The Presidents of Russia and Syria meet face-to-face in Damascus, Syria, to discuss a deadly attack using an aerosolized weapon with new capabilities. Only Sofia and Ludmilla, the Syrian and Russian interpreters, are present. Shortly after the meeting, Sofia pounds on Ludmilla’s door and makes a frantic plea for help. Ludmilla rebuffs her, and within minutes Sofia is thrown from the balcony of her twelfth-floor hotel room. Ludmilla barely eludes Russian operatives on the way to her room and sends a plea for help to the U. S. through the Czech embassy. Anna Sorenson, head of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, Special Activities Center, dispatches David Slaton, the perfect assassin, to extract Ludmilla from Damascus.

I always look forward to reading a new David Slaton book, but this offering, the seventh in the series, was a disappointment. The long, slow build-up was dull. Slaton did not even appear in the first forty pages, and the first two-thirds of the book failed to capture my interest. Two evenings in a row, I quit reading early and turned to crossword puzzles. I suppose I should be grateful for the extra half hour of sleep each night. The final third of the story becomes enjoyable but not captivating. Only the last fifty pages were up to my expectations.

I suppose I must adjust my expectations for David Slaton novels. Assassin’s Silence and Assassin’s Code, numbers three and four in the series, were the best. The last three have been less compelling. It’s sad to think that this trend signals the new norm. ( )

The Russian and Iranian presidents meet to discuss a secret deal for chemical weapons: only two witnesses were present-- the translators. When the Iranian one takes a dive off the hotel roof, missing the pool by a country mile, the Russian one goes on the run, calling the U.S. embassy in Damascus. Ex-Mossad assassin David Slaton is recruited by the CIA for a rescue mission. The book is often too slow, and I found the false flag story dull; however, the book does get pretty exciting as the target becomes known and the novel finally becomes a true thriller. Slaton's prodigious skills are once again on display as things go awry. The rescue from the Syrian-Lebanon border was reminiscent of a James Bond movie. ( )