A Review of Frederick Forsyth's "The Deceiver". By Rodreck DAVID - 23 December, 2023

This review expresses my views and not that of Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Deceiver. 

© Rodreck DAVID, [2023]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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Frederick Forsyth’s The Deceiver is one of those rare Cold War novels that feels more relevant with every passing year. When I first read it years ago, it struck me as authentic and somewhat unsentimental piece; reading it again now, I think it speaks directly to the moment we are living in and perhaps even the near future.

Considering the state of world affairs this year, December, 2023 - I believe we are in another Cold War, arguably a pre-war state, globally, and in many ways it mirrors the world Forsyth describes. The ideological banners may be different, but the terrain is the same: intelligence (information) services shaping outcomes in the shadows, truth treated as expendable, and power exercised through methods that are jarring when exposed.

What The Deceiver captures with unsettling clarity is the existence of DD. What's that? What is a DD? A function, a role, and a person. In Forsyth’s world, the DD was a presidentially appointed role, the officer responsible for Deception, Disinformation, and Psychological Operations. DD is not a theory but a practitioner, quietly tasked with shaping/framing narratives, planting strong falsehoods, and managing perception at an unbelievable scale. Reduced, the remit becomes DD-PsyOps, or simply, the DD (or The Deceiver as aptly captured by the title). It's a title, a desk, and a mandate. Today, that role has not disappeared; it has expanded. DD now operates across digital platforms, media ecosystems, and cyber space, but the job remains the same: influence without attribution, control without visibility.

Forsyth’s ageing MI6 protagonist operates in moral grey zones where loyalty is conditional and truth is transactional. That, too, feels familiar. Institutions endure, but principles bend; individuals do what they must to keep a fragile balance from tipping into open war.

To think that I read this work in my early 20s - as I reflect on it today, years on, The Deceiver no longer reads like a Cold War artifact. I see it instead as a reminder that while wars may pause, they never really stop, they simply change form. And in that sense, Forsyth was not writing about the past at all, but about a permanent condition we are once again forced to confront.

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A Review of Nelson DeMille's "By The Rivers of Babylon". By Rodreck DAVID - 7 May, 2022

This review expresses my views and not that of Nelson DeMille, the author of By The Rivers of Babylon. 

© Rodreck DAVID, [2022]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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Nelson DeMille’s By the Rivers of Babylon is a rare thriller that manages to be both a high-octane geopolitical ride and a thoughtful exploration of how power, technology, and political risk intersect at the edge of catastrophe.

At its core, the novel revolves around a dramatic airborne incident involving advanced military aircraft, a scenario that propels characters and nations toward a brink they never fully intended to reach. DeMille doesn’t just thrill readers with speed and tension; he uses aviation detail (Mach 1.5, Mach 2, altitude envelopes) and realistic military procedures to make that tension feel structurally inevitable, not merely sensational.

What elevates By the Rivers of Babylon above the average action story is its interest in why near-disasters matter. The narrative asks whether truth can withstand the pressures of international rivalry, institutional self-preservation, and political theatre. The result is a novel that feels as sharp and relevant now as it did when first published, especially in an age where hypersonic technology, rapid escalation, and remote risk have become everyday concerns.

More than just a favorite of mine, it’s one of those books that teaches you how to read a world in motion; and that’s why it stayed with me long after the final page.

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A Review of Nelson DeMille's "Cathedral". By Rodreck DAVID - 21 April, 2021

This review expresses my views and not that of Nelson DeMille, the author of Cathedral. 

© Rodreck DAVID, [2021]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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Cathedral is one of Nelson DeMille’s most disciplined and unsettling novels, and one that stayed with me long after I first read it. It is not a story driven by spectacle, but by inevitability; the sense that history, grievance, and belief, once set in motion, are difficult to stop.

Centered on an IRA plot tied to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, the novel treats Irish Republicanism without romance or caricature. DeMille presents political violence as methodical rather than emotional, rooted in memory, faith, and unresolved history. The cathedral itself becomes more than a setting; it stands as a symbol of how sacred spaces, like institutions, can be drawn into conflicts they did not choose.

What makes Cathedral endure is its refusal to offer easy moral resolutions. Everyone operates within constraints; political, historical, institutional, and truth is often secondary to containment and damage control. Reading it now, I’m struck by how contemporary it feels: narratives carefully managed, and authorities more focused on stability than absolutes.

Years later, Cathedral still reads less like a thriller and more like a study in how conflicts migrate, adapt, and resurface. It’s a novel that helped shape how I understand the rooting, unfolding, and cascade of political violence as a continuation of unfinished history.

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A Review of John Katzenbach's "Day of Reckoning" . By Rodreck DAVID - 4 March, 2020

This review expresses my views and not that of John Katzenbach, the author of Day of Reckoning.

© Rodreck DAVID, [2020]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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Day of Reckoning is one of those novels that will glue you to the pages until it really becomes a whole film set playing out and pushing the limits of your imagination. I was spell-bound from the first page and never let go. It is a masterclass in psychological suspense, blending high-octane pacing with a deep exploration of human morality. The story follows characters caught in a web of deception, revenge, and ethical compromise, racing toward outcomes that are as inevitable as they are shocking.

What sets this novel apart is Katzenbach’s ability to create tension that feels both immediate and personal. Unlike many thrillers that rely on external spectacle, the danger here is as much internal as it is external; the protagonists are forced to confront not only physical threats but also the dark corners of their own decisions and conscience. Every twist is grounded in psychology, which makes the suspense feel credible and emotionally resonant.

I still remember this novel for its clarity of narrative and the way it made me think through human behavior under pressure. Katzenbach shows that high-stakes situations are rarely about action alone; they are about understanding, predicting, and manipulating the choices of others. In that sense, Day of Reckoning is as much a study of human strategy as it is a thriller.

It is also a book that teaches you to read tension in layers, you understand that suspense is built as much by character, ethics, and psychology as by plot mechanics. For me, this novel cemented Katzenbach’s place in my mental hierarchy of authors whose work shapes how I think about risk, judgment, and morality.

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A Review of Elizabeth George's "A Great Deliverance" . By Rodreck DAVID - 14 June, 2019

This review expresses my views and not that of Elizabeth George, the author of A Great Deliverance.

© Rodreck DAVID, [2019]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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A Great Deliverance introduces Elizabeth George as a crime novelist more interested in the mystery and secrets that societies behold. This is her first work that introduces Inspector Lynley - soon to be a protagonists of subsequent series. The work is set in a seemingly quiet English village - Elizabeth peels back layers of respectability to reveal cruelty, repression, and long-standing trauma. The investigation is led by the unlikely pairing of Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers, whose sharply different backgrounds create both tension and depth as the case unfolds. Rather than rushing toward a solution, the story takes its time, allowing motivations and emotional consequences to emerge gradually. The result is a dark, unsettling mystery that feels grounded in human psychology rather than procedural mechanics. While the pacing may feel measured, the payoff is a resonant and memorable debut that lays a strong foundation for the series. t's one of my first fictional reads on the  the unbelievable facades that casts much of human society.

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A Review of Nikolai Gogol's "The Government Inspector" . By Rodreck DAVID - 14 November, 2006

This review expresses my views and not that of Nikolai Gogol, the author of The Government Inspector.

© Rodreck DAVID, [2006]. This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Reuse is permitted with appropriate attribution.

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Review: The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol

I first read Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector in my literature class in high school. It's been one of the few enduring satires that has lingered on. Gogol uses comedy to expose the absurdities and moral failures of bureaucracy. At its core, the play revolves around a case of mistaken identity: a small-town administration panics when it believes a lowly, irresponsible civil servant is a powerful government inspector. This misunderstanding drives the play’s farcical situations, rapid misunderstandings, and exaggerated characters, making it consistently entertaining and truly laugh-out-loud funny.

The comedy, however, is never empty. Gogol uses humor as a tool to reveal deeper truths about corruption, hypocrisy, and human weakness. Bribery is treated as routine, officials are more concerned with appearances than justice, and fear of authority replaces genuine responsibility. Each character represents a different social flaw: greed, vanity, incompetence. Yet, Gogol avoids moral preaching. Instead, he lets the characters condemn themselves through their own actions, allowing the audience to laugh while also recognizing uncomfortable realities about power and governance that remain relevant even today.

What makes The Government Inspector especially effective is its balance between exaggerated theatre and social insight. The fast pace and witty dialogue keep the play accessible, while its critique of institutional corruption encourages reflection long after the laughter fades. The famous ending, where truth arrives too late, leaves the audience amused but unsettled, reinforcing the play’s moral lesson without sacrificing its comic energy. If you are a reflective person, you will find the moral lessons more serious than they appear from a first read.

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