Treason by Stuart Woods

The latest installment of Stone Barrington's adventures arrived in Jan 2020.  Stuart Woods published the 52nd story in this series when he released Treason.  The plot was a decent story and had some good twists and turns but it did have some weaknesses as well.  I feel there were some parts to the story that were not addressed before the conclusion of the novel. The wink between Betty and Vanessa implies there is more to the story.   Also, the vandalism to the aircraft early in the story leads to an unnecessary plot extension.  Perhaps Woods plans to address those in a future installment of the series, but if not, they represnt a weakness in the story.   Additionally,  Stone and Dino being professional problem solvers sure didn't get suspicious when the antagonist kept showing up at the same establishments they were frequenting even in a city the size of NYC.  Also they think there is something strange about the American they meet in Paris and his connection to the Russians, but when he almost no shows for the flight they don't get suspicious of possible sabotage to the jet?  For clever individuals they sure were naive at times.

 I realize this isn't meant to be the next great American novel, but a bit more time making sure the story line is clean and consistent would benefit this book.  I gave the book a 3 star rating in Goodreads and you can see my review below


Treason by Stuart Woods
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this story in the latest installment of the Stone Barrington saga but I have to admit the shear number of different women he shares his bed with in a given week is getting a bit ridiculous- 1 leaves unexpectedly mid-evening and he takes another home instead, really. This story does have some good plot twists and a quick pace. On the other hand there are some plot lines that needed to be cleared up in my opinion- the wink between Betty and Vanessa is never explained for example. Also, for someone involved in the world of espionage and living in a city the size of NYC, it never raises a red flag that the antagonist keeps showing up in the same restaurants as Stone and Dino? While I enjoy the exploits of Stone and his friends I do think the series is getting a bit hurried in the release of the installments and the bit of extra time could be spent firming up plot details and lose ends. Even still, the book is an enjoyable read for a rainy/snowy afternooon.


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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge -  Book 16
2.  Cloak and  Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal : Book  11
3. Finishing the Series-  #FinishingTheSeries2020 -Stone Barrington series as of Feb 2020
4. Medical Examiner-  2 Toe Tags 
5. Six Shooter-  1 shot for Stuart Woods (2 total on target)
6. Mystery Bingo:  
• Clues:  Reading the will: something said in French
• Red Herring : inheritance
• Crime Scenes:  Boat
Calendar of Crime-  #CalendarOfCrime2020  July #4  Independence Day

Possible prompts

I will decide as the year goes along which prompts I use it for on several challenges since it meets multiple criteria within the challenge.

1. Popsugar- #popsugarreadingchallenge #1 published in 2020

1. Around the Year in 52 Books- #48 A book published in 2020
2. 52 Books in 52 weeks  #18 a book published in 2020
3. Book List Queen #49  2020 New Release
4. NJM #NJMBookChallenge2020  #1 a book published in 2020
5. 2020 TBR  #2020TBRReadingChallenge #1  A 2020 release
6. Wizarding World Tour  

• Ilvermorny-  Read a book published in 2020