A Good Washington Thriller for This 4th of July

The hero of Robert McCaw's “Traitors” is a top Justice Department counterintelligence official in search of a suspected Russian mole at the very top of the government.

Robert B. McCaw’s decades with an elite Washington, DC law firm lends “Traitors” an authoritative voice. (Author photo)

The best spy novelists are deceptively crafty. They are able to step back from the chaotic noise of our daily headlines to remind us that, at least in fiction, honesty and goodwill can still outmaneuver the worst aspects of humanity.

In his gripping new page-turner, Traitors, the veteran mystery writer Robert B. McCaw gives us exactly that kind of hero for this cynical age. His protagonist, Robert Cooper, is a regular guy, a grieving widower with a daughter he adores, true blue to those around him, pained to think that anyone in his circle could have evil intent. A dogged idealist in the old-time mold of Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper, he refuses to bend, even as the world around him demands it. In McCaw’s telling, that decency turns out to be the most dangerous weapon in Washington.