The Frenchman is a slow burn of a read in all the right ways. Like any good spy thriller, Jack Beaumont methodically builds up the action culminating in the dramatic conclusion. The most anxiety-inducing part of this book is the plausibility of the final scenes, made even worse by the authenticity Beaumont brings from his previous years at the DGSE to the page. This is the most pure espionage book I’ve read this year.
Alec de Payns, one of the top undercover operatives at the DGSE, sees a routine mission to infiltrate a terrorist group goes sideways, nearly costing him his life. All signs point to a mole within the tight-knit group and Alec is being treated as a potential suspect. As he tries to balance his work life with that of his roles as loving husband and father, the pressure to clear his name and identify the intelligence breach mounts.
Even with the long shadow of doubt and betrayal cast over the group, the terrorists aren’t sitting idly by and Alec is sent to determine if a secretive weapons facility in Pakistan is producing a new biological weapon in the form of a weaponized strain of bacteria. With everyone at the DGSE looking over their own shoulders, there hasn’t been a better time to strike.
Not since Kyle Mills explored the vulnerability of the US electrical grid in Total Power has a fictional attack seems not only plausible, but probable. I would not be shocked to find out that this type of assault actually occurred in some form or fashion. It does take a bit for the pace of the story to really get going, but the time Beaumont uses to set the table is well worth it when the plot absolutely takes off. The final action sequences and reveal of the full scale of the attack were wonderfully done, which is all the more impressive in a debut.
With a level of detail only former intelligence officers and operatives can bring to a story, I can only hope this is the first in a long line of books featuring Alec de Payns.
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