Book Review: The Paris Betrayal by James. R. Hannibal

James Hannibal is out with a new book, The Paris Betrayal. After reading his previous two, part of a series, I decided to read this one that isn’t related.

When an assignment goes wrong for Ben Calix and his team, he becomes embroiled in a game of cat and mouse between the “Company” that trained him and a disgruntled villain set on a vengeance that could destroy humanity through a deadly plague. As he struggles to survive the “severence” that would not only end his career but his life, he’s exposed to more than bullets.

The story begins with typical spy thriller action that twists and turns through the whole book. Most of those twists were unexpected. A few were easy to anticipate. It had a James Bond/Jason Bourne vibe with Ben’s accessibility to whatever he needed at the time – sometimes to the point of causing me to roll my eyes – and his desperation to remain alive long enough to prove his innocence and save the world.

Cover-wise, there’s nothing to indicate this is the first book of a new series, but it has all the earmarks of one. For one thing, the spiritual aspect is very light, as though set up to carry through future books. For another (**spoiler alert**), there is a romantic thread that ends with a question mark.

Even at almost 350 pages, The Paris Betrayal is a quick, page-turning read, not as good, in my opinion, as The Gryphon Heist or Chasing the White Lion, but still entertaining. I give it 4.3 stars.