A Mastermind Meets His Match

The Mastermind’s Revenge by Robert F. Orlando

For readers drawn to elaborate schemes and reversals, The Mastermind’s Revenge offers plenty of entertainment.

Diane Vitullo learned a great deal from her uncle Trevor Hawthorne. He taught her to recognize deception and anticipate an opponent’s next move. Those lessons have served her well as an NSA agent. They become considerably harder to apply when the person she needs to outwit is Trevor himself, especially when he has something she desperately wants.

Robert F. Orlando’s The Mastermind’s Revenge picks up the unfinished business of The Pandora Particle. In that first novel, a government scientist inadvertently creates a particle capable of destroying humanity. He tries to sabotage his research but dies before he can warn his fiancée, leaving her pursued by forces determined to obtain it. Protecting her draws Diane and her partner, Roger Edwards, into an investigation that exposes Trevor’s criminal dealings — including his arrangement to deliver a sample of the Particle to a wealthy industrialist — and forces Diane to confront his involvement in her parents’ murders.

Schemes, Counterschemes and Schemes Within Schemes

The sequel finds Trevor abroad and his daughter Kristen Dryden awaiting trial. Nightmares bring Diane back to the violent deaths of her parents, and she searches for evidence that will make their killer pay, especially when prosecutors hesitate to pursue the charges that matter most to her.

Trevor is hardly suffering in exile. From a luxurious hotel on Lake Como, the former CIA operative known as the “Mastermind” puts his wealth and extensive contacts to work. He wants Kristen freed and intends to punish those responsible for his downfall. To help, he recruits Renate, a beautiful assassin known as the “Fixer,” whose talents include noticing what everyone else misses. Unfortunately for Trevor, she has ambitions of her own — including getting her hands on his fortune.

From there, the schemes multiply. Trevor earns the nickname “Mastermind” by exploiting other people’s ambitions. Yet his niece’s growing ability to anticipate — and redirect — those schemes adds a layer of tension to their uneasy alliance. But the chess match isn’t limited to uncle and niece. Everyone seems to be conducting a private operation within someone else’s operation. Intelligence officials protect their careers while hired operatives calculate what they might gain by changing sides. Someone who cannot be trusted may nevertheless be useful, and several characters gamble on exploiting that usefulness before they are betrayed. Even family ties offer little protection.

The Pandora Particle remains an irresistible prize. The original crisis may have been contained, but the prospect of reproducing the discovery brings fresh danger to physicist Dr. Cameron Allen and the friends who helped stop it. Foreign operatives want the knowledge needed to recreate it, and Cameron’s expertise makes him a target.

Suspense in What’s Revealed, Surprise in What’s Hidden

Orlando moves among the characters’ perspectives, letting readers watch threats develop before Diane discovers them. We know that someone offering assistance has another objective. We don’t know whether Diane will recognize it in time, or whether she has a deception of her own ready. This fuels the suspense as the plot unfolds.

Of all the perspectives, Diane’s gives the novel its strongest emotional pull, as grief and anger fuel her pursuit of justice. Her uncle’s betrayal makes his offers of help difficult to accept, while Kristen’s fierce loyalty to him makes her a dangerous adversary. Walking away from either would mean giving up her chance to uncover the full truth about her parents’ deaths.

Thankfully, amid all the intrigue, she has people she can count on. Her boyfriend, Dr. William Parisi, brings tenderness and emotional support. Her partnership with Roger comes with a steady supply of insults and the certainty that neither will willingly leave the other behind. Her friends gather for elaborate dinners, tease one another over drinks and show up when it really matters.

Orlando writes with a fondness for ironic twists: attempts to protect someone can expose them, plots against an enemy can give that enemy an advantage, and apparent victories can carry the seeds of defeat. Short chapters set a brisk pace, and the action sequences and suspense propel us through them quickly. For readers drawn to elaborate schemes and reversals, The Mastermind’s Revenge offers plenty of entertainment.

As for Diane, her purpose doesn’t waver. She wants the truth about her parents and a chance to enjoy the life she has begun rebuilding. Trevor can help her obtain that truth. Knowing what his help will cost is another matter entirely.

Robert F. Orlando is the author of two novels: The Pandora Particle and its sequel, The Mastermind’s Revenge. His writing blends his eclectic life experiences, vivid imagination, and a passion for the unexpected and irony into fast-paced stories full of intrigue, mystery and real, likable characters. A native of Philadelphia, he currently splits his time between Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and his beloved Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.