Power play

A compelling spy story features AI, cybersecurity, quantum computing – and a beautiful Russian woman.

- BY GREG FLEMING

Jack Beaumont is the pseudonym of an ex-operative for the DGSE, the French equivalent of the CIA.

Liar's Game is the third thriller featuring spy Alec de Payns, which has seen Beaumont become a surefire bestseller in Australia, where he now lives with his wife and children.

When an apparent North Korean defector is killed at Beijing airport while de Payns is attempting an extraction, questions begin to be asked: is there a traitor in the service, or is this an elaborate power play by a faction in the government to wrest back power over the agency?

Will the blame for the botched operation be laid at our protagonist's feet?

There's also an ongoing case of a wealthy Russian businessman who is buying up South-East Asian cybersecurity technology, and a French tech executive who is unwittingly in the cross hairs of the Chinese secret service.