Review of The Betrayal Game by David L. Robbins

Heavy on the suspense and light on the car chases, The Betrayal Game delivers on exactly what it promises, nothing more, nothing less.

Essentially what that means is if you're predisposed to liking David l. Robbins' books or thrillers about assassination plots, you're going to like this book. It fits the formula. The main character (who appears in another book by Robbins, apparently--this is my first Robbins book) is an intellectual, but instead of being an ineffectual egghead, he's a capable fighter. The enemies are numerous, and as the title implies, some of them come posing as friends.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how it totally ignored it was 1961. By that I don't mean that it's historically inaccurate; I mean that it reads like any other thriller set in the present day. It just happens to take place in 1961. Unlike many other pieces of historical fiction, which seem to point at themselves and say, "Hey, look at me, I'm in this historical period, and here's all the stereotypes!", The Betrayal Game is confident enough in its own plotting to tell you: it's 1961, Castro vs. Kennedy no-holds-barred, oh, and there's another assassination attempt.

Really, it's hard to complain about this book. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not a great book; like most thrillers, it's formulaic and rather predictable. But if you ignore the fact that it's formula and just let yourself enjoy watching the story play out, you will have a good time.