Fellowship of Fear (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)

Fellowship of Fear - Aaron Elkins All the cloak and dagger seemed incredible and the author lost credibility with me fast. I just didn't buy how Gideon was recruited and how the plot unfolded just seemed very B-movie to me with nothing about the lead character or style making me feel the novel was worth persisting with. The whole premise of one after another visiting lecturer being bumped off--well, in Harry Potter you can believe a curse. In the case of the US military just letting this go yet blithely hiring another lecturer without taking precautions--hard to believe. Gideon also came across to me as supercilious and very Marty Stu before a few dozen pages had passed. (He's a mild-mannered academic, and we're supposed to believe he can successfully fight off professionals attacking him using a technique he read about once years ago?)