A casual glance at the cover of Christopher Reich’s latest novel, “Matterhorn,” might lead one to assume that he or she is looking at a piece about mountain climbing; but after a closer, more careful look, that potential reader would spy a helicopter and perhaps some angry-looking red-orange clouds, perhaps orange for fireworks and red for blood. The fact is that the novel IS about the art, skill, and danger of climbing, but it’s also about the art, skill, and danger of spying — killing with impunity, morality or lack of same, passion or apparent lack of same, and the reality of pursuing whatever means are necessary to achieve one’s ends, be they for good, evil, riches, or pure power.

Reich’s very suspenseful novel is fairly bursting with information about spy-craft and clearly demonstrates the author’s unquestionable talent for creating excitement, believable action, and characters about whom we come to care. Short, sharp sentences, shorter crisp phrases, snappy and incisive dialogue and narration fill every page and offer a satisfying mixture of pictures of human dignity, human indecency, ultra-questionable morality, self-destructive passion, biting humor, self-discipline, courage, and even sincere patriotism — in some cases.

The protagonist, known first to the reader as the old, very lonely, small-town resident Robbie Steinhardt, and later as ex-CIA uber-agent Mac Dekker, learns that his son Will has died, an apparent suicide or accident victim after a fall from the side of a mountain, the Matterhorn, of course. We had read of that death, along with the death of Will’s lover, Marina Zhukova, at the very beginning of the novel. Mac suspects that the deaths were neither suicides nor accidents, and his suspicion is confirmed very quickly. Murder is in the mountain air.

Will, too, it turns out, was a CIA operative, and Marina had joined him in plotting against her native Russia. They had information about a Russian government plot to murder thousands of Europeans with a new poison that would prove untraceable and unstoppable. The perfect attack: deadly, unattributable, and the perpetrators’ deeds unaccountable.

Besides Mac and the deceased Will and Marina, there are several very important characters, all of whom are essential to the unfolding of the plot, and all of whom are carefully and skillfully drawn. The most significant one is Ilya Ivashka, Mac’s closest boyhood friend, colleague in the CIA and mountain climbing adventures, and finally turncoat, traitor, Russian spy, and cold-blooded murderer. Other important characters are Colonel Alexandra Zaitseva, Ilya’s commanding officer; Dr. Ashok Mehta, creator of the deadly Russian bio-weapon; Jane McCall, courageous CIA officer; Cal Thorpe, Jane’s CIA boss; and Ava Attal — introduced late in the novel — Israeli hero and love interest for both Mac and Ilya. And that interest turns out to be one of the most intriguing plot elements.

So the plot, complicated and full of both characters and surprises, but never confusing, includes a plethora of normal spy novel developments, situations, and action sequences: murders and other deaths; heroic daredevil adventures performed by both heroes and villains; death-defying leaps from tall buildings (never in a single bound!); mountain climbing episodes (also death-defying to be sure); disgusting and gruesome immoral behaviors; passionate relationships, which according to CIA rules and traditions are always taboo and never inconsequential; and ultimately a suspenseful and action-filled-to-say-the-least climactic struggle; and a very satisfying denouement that can qualify as an almost-but-not-quite entirely happy ending.

Reich’s fascinating and very clever achievement here is the creation of a hero and villain who are nearly perfect mirror images of each other. Mac and Ilya, formerly best friends, are both super-agents and near super-men — powerful, brilliant, sometimes brutal, and obsessed. Ilya has two goals: (1) to find the flash drive Will had hidden that details the Russian surprise attack, and to find it before Mac can, so that Ilya can ensure the deaths of thousands. And (2) to kill Mac. Mac has two goals, too: (1) to find the flash drive before Ilya does in order to save those thousands of lives. And (2) to kill Ilya. They are a perfect dramatic match.

That contest and all the adventures surrounding it as well as all the characters involved in it make for an intentionally nerve-wracking and surprising piece of “high” adventure, which, of course, begins and ends on the Matterhorn. And “Matterhorn” is an entirely impressive presentation of spy-craft and spy-novel expertise.

Review by Jack Kramer. This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.