Judas

By Todd Komarnicki

When the charming and strikingly handsome Vincent enters an elegant New York hotel suite and casually, skillfully, kills the eleven men waiting for him there, he immediately finds himself on the run for his life.

But who is Vincent and why did he do it? And what was the reason behind his grisly pulling of the men's molars and stashing them in the room's toilet?

What we do know is that he's now been cast as a "Judas" and must bring to bear unparalleled skill and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of relentless pursuers. The chase catapults him and us through the streets, subways, and hotels of gritty New York City in this heart-pumping, ever-surprising action-thriller.

In tow with Vincent is the beautiful French immigrant, Isabelle, who thought he was just the sexy and unassuming "journalist" he pretended to be. Their mutual attraction lands them in her bed, but the timing couldn't be worse. Now she is a target as well, and her only chance of survival is sticking with Vincent.

The pressure never lets up and the intrigue deepens when we learn that Vincent is really a specially trained and clever covert government agent, and the men after him are his former employers. The agent in charge of this head-hunt is Stinson, a steely man who commands his team of equally well-trained "cleaners" with a vengeance.

But Vincent wants something more than his own freedom. His agency's mission - operation "Last Supper" - was to guarantee global weakness by fabricating holy wars in the world's more unstable regions. The unconscionable work got to be too much for him, it seems, and now he wants to end it. But in order to prevent murder and anarchy stretching across the globe, Vincent must get to the computer chip containing the highly sensitive information outlining this plot before Stinson and his goons do.

Rachel, the nervy young mother of Allie, complicates matters further when she attempts to get to the bottom of the mysterious "disappearance" of her brother-in-law - a man she later finds out was one of Vincent's team, and now dead. After soliciting the help of a well-intentioned but clueless police detective, Anatole, she gets caught in the crossfire and lands in Vincent's care as well. Vincent now finds himself "double dating" on his survival quest.

But if anyone could come out of this alive, it's Vincent. His unequalled skills and cunning - not to mention dashing persona - all come into play in this action-packed, and inventive political thriller. And as the plot reaches its surprising conclusion, and people's true identities are unmasked, we come to realize what Vincent has known all along: No one can be trusted.