After reading David Stone’s first Micah Dalton thriller, The Echelon Vendetta, I was eager to read The Orpheus Deception, the second in the series. Orpheus starts almost precisely where Echelon ends, with a few new characters and, of course, a new threat to the Western World. Both have constant danger, sexy women, sadistic bad guys, and lots of testosterone. But while Echelon had a mysterious bad guy who made you wonder who, how and why, Orpheus is plotted more like an Ian Flemming novel from the Sixties – you know who the bad guys are, what they’re up to, and why just doesn’t seem to matter much. It’s a page turner, all right, an airplane read, but not a worthy successor.

In the absence of a first-rate plot, Stone’s shortcomings are more apparent. He’s still a first-rate writer of descriptive “scene-setters” and his dialogue isn’t bad, but some of the gore seems both superfluous and downright sick. Is he writing to appeal to our latent sadism, or is he a sadist himself, who enjoys writing about torture and disembowelment? This volume also abounds in racism, homophobia, snide remarks about liberals and “hippies” and xenophobia. I’ve got to think that it’s more than the characters speaking these words.

Echelon was good. Orpheus isn’t, and I won’t sample Mr. Stone’s output again. ( )

Did not realize it was a continuation of previous book, The Echelon Vendetta, but read well without having read it. This reminded me a lot of the current James Bond movies. Action packed and a tiny bit of romance. ( )

Terrific Y chromosome spy adventure with exceptionally good writing style--fun & funny descriptions. ( )

Almost immediately after beginning The Orpheus Deception I began to wonder whether it and its predecessor The Echelon Vendetta had actually been written as a single long novel. The story is probably a bit more straightforward in the thriller mode, but it is the interesting characters that really drives Stone's books.

These books absolutely must be read in order! ( )

There should be a ten star rating option. David Stone is absolutely amazingly good at putting together a story containing suspense, humor and wonderful plots. This book is a can't put it down category all by itself. It works! ( )