SOLVED. Mid-80s Espionage/Thriller - Backstory of MC includes a scene where he camps out at the cemetery every night guarding his parents' graves. Spoiler ahead. [s]

[Jeremy]

I'm trying to remember the title of a book that I read in the mid-80s to early 90s.
In a backstory scene fairly early in the book, the main character is orphaned at a young age (elementary school) when his parents are killed in a car accident and he's taken in by his aunt and uncle. At some point, he overhears two adults having a conversation about a problem with teenagers vandalizing the local graveyard, so he sneaks out every night and stands guard over his parents' graves.
If I remember correctly, the book was the first or second in a trilogy. The first book had one main character, the second book had a different main character, then in the third book, the two characters work together.

Sound familiar to anybody?

[Jeremy]

I remembered one additional detail over the weekend:
The MC's first name was either Andrew or Drew.

[Kris]

Jeremy, can you tell us more about the main character - his age, skills/interests, boy detective?, personality, etc.? If the story is mostly about his adult years - his age, jobs/skills/interests, employer, any romance, etc.?

Is this book for teens (young adults) or older adults?

What is the story's time period and location (country/region/city)?

[Jeremy]

It's an espionage thriller... the main character grows up to be a spy (CIA, I think). Definitely a novel aimed at adults, although I was a teenager when I read it. The story was contemporary at the time it was released, so it was set in the 80s or 90s, except for the flashback scenes.

The only other detail I remember is that the main character discovers that his mentor is a mole or double agent, and the mentor sets it up to make it look like the MC has gone rogue so that he cannot expose the mentor.

[Jeremy]

Jeremy wrote: "...the main character discovers that his mentor is a mole or double agent, and the mentor sets it up to make it look like the MC has gone rogue so that he cannot expose the mentor. "

I think I might be combining the story arcs of the main characters of the first two books.
Upon further thought I'm pretty sure that the Andrew/Drew character didn't have the story line where he is framed for the mentor's crimes and declared rogue, but the MC of the other novel in the series did.

[Jeremy]

bump

[Jeremy]

Bump

[Kris]

Is the Andrew/Drew spy character the boy whose parents died in a car accident?

What's the location (country/region/city) when he's an adult? You mentioned it's the 1980/90's.

[Jeremy]

Sorry, I haven't checked this thread in a while.

Yes, the Drew/Andrew character (I'm pretty sure it was Drew) is the one whose parents died when he was a child.

The character worked for a US intelligence agency. I don't remember if a particular region or city was specified.

I read the book sometime between the mid-eighties and the mid-nineties, and it was set in then-current times.

[Jeremy]

I found it!

It's The Fraternity Of The Stone by David Morrell, book #2 in the Mortalis series.

Thanks for all of the help trying to figure it out.

[Kris]

Great. Glad you found your book, Jeremy. Thanks for the update.