#Review - The Tourists by Christopher Reich #Espionage #Thriller

Series: Mac Dekker (#2)
Format: 351 pages, Hardcover
Release Date: October 14, 2025
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Publisher
Genre: Espionage / Thriller

From the New York Times bestselling author of Matterhorn comes a heart-stopping thriller about a man who returns to a life of espionage to save the woman he loves and the City of Light.

Retired special agent Mac Dekker travels to Paris to propose to Ava Attal, once Mossad’s deadliest operative. After too long, life is good. But before he can propose, Ava leaves the table to take an urgent call. And never returns.

Mac launches a frantic search, spiraling through the city’s brightest and darkest places. People are lying, agents are dying, and he finds himself caught in the crosshairs of CIA shadows and enigmatic assassins while battling a wealthy, ruthless prince planning a truly terrifying act of violence.

With only hours to find Ava and save thousands of lives, Mac’s CIA training kicks in, along with his Is Ava truly missing, or did she come to Paris on a mission even more secretive than his own?

The Tourists is the second installment in author Christopher Reich's Max Dekker series. Key Characters: Max Dekker, formerly of the CIA, was supposed to be dead after a car bomb 9 years ago. Ava Attal, a covert operative who worked for the Mossad. After kicking off the saga with Matterhorn—a mountain-climbing espionage tale inspired by Reich's own passion for alpine adventures—this follow-up shifts the action from snowy peaks to the glittering streets of Paris. 

At its core, The Tourists is a classic man-on-the-run thriller with a romantic twist. Protagonist Mac Dekker, a grizzled ex-CIA operative in his late 50s, has traded black ops for a quiet life in the Swiss Alps, complete with a granddaughter and a budding romance. But when he jets off to Paris to propose to his girlfriend, the formidable Ava Attal—a former Mossad agent with a lethal skill set—over a candlelit dinner at the iconic Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, everything unravels. 

Ava steps away for a mysterious phone call and vanishes into the City of Light, leaving Mac to piece together a web of deception that spans assassins, double-crossing CIA handlers, and a ruthless Middle Eastern prince with ambitions that could ignite a regional powder keg. As Mac races against the clock through Paris's labyrinthine alleys and beyond, he must confront not just external threats but nagging doubts about Ava's true loyalties. 

The stakes escalate from personal heartbreak to a potential catastrophe threatening Europe's fragile peace, all while Reich weaves in flashbacks to Mac's past for added depth. It's a plot that zips along like a high-speed train, building to a crescendo of twists that feel both inevitable and surprising. Mac's internal conflict—balancing his desire for domestic bliss with the adrenaline-fueled instincts of his spy days—adds emotional weight, making his desperation palpable as he turns Paris upside down. 

Ava Attal is a standout too: fierce, enigmatic, and unapologetically complex, she's no damsel but a force whose absence drives the narrative as much as Mac's pursuit. Their chemistry crackles with shared trauma and unspoken trust issues, elevating the story beyond mere action. Secondary characters, however, are more hit-or-miss. 

The Middle Eastern prince antagonist is a compelling puppet-master with real-world echoes of geopolitical power plays, but some readers find him veering into caricature territory. CIA operatives and French authorities pop up as obstacles, providing solid foils. That said, across the series, these archetypes gain nuance, rewarding readers who commit to the full Mac Dekker arc.

Not a fan of the ending, but it apparently ensures that there will be a sequel in the near future. 

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#Review -Matterhorn by Christopher Reich #Thrillers #Espionage

Series: Mac Dekker # 1
Format: Hardcover, 347 pages
Release Date: April 1, 2024
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Amazon First Reads
Genre: Thrillers / Espionage

A sudden family death and an old nemesis bring retired agent Mac Dekker in from the cold in this alpine thriller from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Reich.

Robbie Steinhardt lives a peaceful life. A fixture of his small alpine village, he tends cattle, minds his own business, and doesn’t dwell on his former life and the family and lover he left behind—back when he was Mac Dekker, CIA.

But when he learns his son Will died following in his footsteps, he needs answers. What mission took Will up into the alpine heights, and why is Ilya Ivashka on the same trail? Ilya—his close friend, his rival in love. Ilya, who framed Mac for treason and sent him into hiding.

Wiping away the years, Mac returns to the field to find the secrets Will hid and finds himself facing the Herculean task of stopping a terrorist plot that threatens thousands. But in a field of double agents, who can he trust? 

Matterhorn, by Christopher Reich, is the first installment in the author's Mac Dekker series. A sudden family death and an old nemesis bring retired agent Mac Dekker in from the cold in this alpine thriller. Robbie Steinhardt (Mac Dekker) has lived a peaceful life in Switzerland for the past 8 years. A fixture of his small alpine village, he tends cattle, minds his own business, and doesn’t dwell on his former life and the family and lover he left behind back when he was CIA.

But when he learns that his son Will Dekker has not only followed in his father's footsteps but died on Matterhorn following a meeting with a Russian foreign intelligence service Captain who had important information about something called Hercules, Will is forced to come out of retirement to find out why. What mission took Will up into the alpine heights, and why is Ilya Ivanshka, the man who betrayed him, the CIA, and the USA, on the same trail?

Will was forced to go into hiding for the past 8 years because he was set up by the man, Ilya, who was supposed to be his closest friend. A man who destroyed the CIA's undercover operatives in the Middle East by giving them to the Russian SVR, and was given the rank of Major in the SVR. Mac returns to the field to find the secrets Will hid and finds himself facing the Herculean task of stopping a terrorist plot that threatens thousands possibly millions. But in a field of double agents, who can he trust? 

To top it off, Mac has no idea that his own daughter Jane McCall is also in the CIA and wants to know why her brother went off the grid and who was responsible for killing him. Jane and Will's investigation will lead them to uncover a deadly operation that is set against the backdrop of the Russian war with Ukraine. It also leads to a reunion by Will with a former Mossad Agent named Ava Attal who is also living in Switzerland. 

Once the story gets going, the action doesn't let up, and although most of the plot twists are pretty much what you'd expect, it hammers along at a fair old pace. Plus, in the tradition of classics like the Eiger Sanction, there's plenty of detailed climbing action to create a perilous environment. As this is the first in a new series, I understand that the sequel will be released in May 2025. 

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