The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

     I have recently been reading the book "The Brotherhood of the Rose" by David Morrell. It is about two orphans, Chris and Saul, who are adopted by a top espionage agent and trained to be assassins. But when their adopted father, Eliot, tries to have them killed, their loyalty to each other, determination, and training are put to the test.
     There is no single protagonist in this book, as Chris and Saul are both the main characters. They are influenced by many people throughout the story, but the only person who influenced them both and influenced them the strongest was Eliot, their adopted father. When he tricked them and tried to kill them, they felt betrayed. I can understand this (but not on such an extreme level) because if I trust someone unconditionally and then they betray me, I feel hurt and angry. I think that what David Morrell wanted to portray in this scenario is how close family is, but how fragile every relationship is.
     Some obstacles preventing the protagonists from reaching their goal is that because Chris committed a global crime by killing someone in an Abelard sanction (a neutral zone), every government in the world is after him now. This affects their travel because now not only are they trying to get to Eliot, who works for the CIA in the fourth most powerful position in the agency, but they are trying to avoid all other governments.