The League of Night and Fog by David Morrell

 

(pb; 1987: third book in the Abelard Sanction quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“They were once master assassins. Saul and Drew—lethal weapons who dealt death with icy efficiency.

“Today they are silent warriors. Sick of the bloodshed. Penitent. But still potent.

“Now, for the first time, their paths will cross. Comrades in killing, they must join forces against a treacherous power from the past.

“This will be their most crucial assignment. It could also be their last.”

Review

League brings together the assassin protagonists from the first two Abelard Sanction books: Saul Grisman, from The Brotherhood of the Rose; and Drew MacLane, from The Fraternity of the Stone. In League, Grisman and MacLane, who are drawn out of their respective exiles (Grisman, in Israel; MacLane, the Nitrian Desert in Egypt) when they’re attacked by killers who might be linked. They, along with their equally deadly spouses, separately and (later) together, plot and fight their way through labyrinthine loyalties, multiple international agencies, and sometimes noble, sometimes loathsome killers who may or may not have the two couples in their sights.

As he does in the first two Abelard novels, Morrell deftly melds fully realized characters, streamlined and believable action, and wild-but-also-believable conspiracies with his taut, fast-paced, and all-around entertaining writing.  This is a top-notch political/action thriller, another Abelard book worth owning.

Series completists might want to note that Morrell revisited and end-capped this four-work series in his story “The Abelard Sanction,” included in the 2006 James Patterson-edited anthology Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night.