In 2020’s THE PRESIDENT’S DOSSIER, the first entry in James A. Scott’s thriller series, Max Geller’s derogatory emails regarding President Ted Walldrum are leaked. The CIA deems Geller persona non grata and forces its most valued agent to “voluntarily” quit his gig --- after Geller surreptitiously absconds with 10 million bucks from a Russian off-record covert operation. How can a government entity that doesn’t exist have 10 mil to steal? “The Russians wanted me for bank robbery, murder, and skyjacking. With all those angry spies after me, I should have made myself harder to find.”

"Packing the punch of an RPG, THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS takes readers to Germany, Russia, Cyprus and Estonia, a former Soviet Union Baltic country that Russia wants to reclaim."

It’s summer Down Under, while glaciation sculpts Moscow’s winterscape. Geller’s comfy retirement with CIA gal-pal Vanessa finds them at Australia’s posh Bondi Beach, not a likely place for men wading the waves carrying Testoni shoes and wearing Armani sartorial suits. They’re DC alphabet agency goons enlisted to coerce Geller into a special ops mission to extract high-ranking Russian military defector wannabe Alexi Petrov, code name Rampart. Beach bliss blurs as Geller’s alarm bells clang like Westminster Abbey during a monarch’s coronation. Does Petrov really want to defect, or is the president’s pal Putin trying to lure Geller back into Mother Russia (Родина-мать)? The CIA threat is not veiled, thinly or otherwise: either Geller goes to Moscow or Vanessa, whose life would be worth less than a Russian ruble.

Somewhat in the vein of Daniel Silva’s HOUSE OF SPIES, “Mad Max” Geller learns that things go awry and tables turn like a tornado. Since he doubtfully could obtain a Russian visa in his own name, there’s identity theft by death.

Packing the punch of an RPG, THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS takes readers to Germany, Russia, Cyprus and Estonia, a former Soviet Union Baltic country that Russia wants to reclaim. And the frequent flier miles mount returning to the States, where there’s an “I know nothing about this” political coup under consideration.

As with the road trip “over there,” multiple plotlines need a GPS and literary chauffeur: Russian alphabet agency in-fighting causes Keystone Kops-like blunders, weapons smuggling, an aborted assassination, attempts to reacquire former Soviet Union countries that are now NATO members, and more gun battles than that little skirmish at Normandy.

Personal political bias depicted in a needless reference to a specific date detracts from an otherwise spectacular spy thriller. Espionage fans may also enjoy another Oceanview title involving attempts to reclaim Russia’s former empire: LANDSLIDE by former CIA paramilitary officer Adam Sikes, who submitted the final manuscript before Ukraine was defiled.

Author’s note: I completed THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS manuscript on October 18, 2021, approximately four months before Ukraine was invaded [by Russia]. In his April 2005 address to the Russian people, Vladimir Putin said, “The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.” Nine years later, when Russia invaded and occupied the Crimea, John Bolton…quoted Putin’s 2005 lament and added, “It’s clear [Putin] wants to re-establish Russian hegemony within the space of the former Soviet Union.”