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This title in other formats:The Faithful Spyby Alex Berenson
Staff Pick
I just got through reading The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. I started reading it on my lunch, forced myself to work for a few hours, and then hustled home to continue. Kids ate leftovers; dishes went undone; pleasant dinner conversation was cut short. Back to my thriller. I finished at about 9 o'clock and was bereft. No more John Wells, no more Alex Berenson for another year (if we're lucky). This could be the writer we've been waiting for — the successor to John Le Carré. The Faithful Spy is a great contemporary thriller that is both insightful and a page-turner. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A New York Times reporter has drawn upon his experience covering the occupation in Iraq to write the most gripping and chillingly plausible thriller of the post-9/11 era. Alex Berenson?s debut novel of suspense, The Faithful Spy, is a sharp, explosive story that takes readers inside the war on terror as fiction has never done before.
John Wells is the only American CIA agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda. Since before the attacks in 2001, Wells has been hiding in the mountains of Pakistan, biding his time, building his cover. Now, on the orders of Omar Khadri — the malicious mastermind plotting more al Qaeda strikes on America — Wells is coming home. Neither Khadri nor Jennifer Exley, Wells?s superior at Langley, knows quite what to expect. For Wells has changed during his years in the mountains. He has become a Muslim. He finds the United States decadent and shallow. Yet he hates al Qaeda and the way it uses Islam to justify its murderous assaults on innocents. He is a man alone, and the CIA — still reeling from its failure to predict 9/11 or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — does not know whether to trust him. Among his handlers at Langley, only Exley believes in him, and even she sometimes wonders. And so the agency freezes Wells out, preferring to rely on high-tech means for gathering intelligence. But as that strategy fails and Khadri moves closer to unleashing the most devastating terrorist attack in history, Wells and Exley must somehow find a way to stop him, with or without the government?s consent. From secret American military bases where suspects are held and "interrogated" to basement laboratories where al Qaeda?s scientists grow the deadliest of biological weapons, The Faithful Spy is a riveting and cautionary tale, as affecting in its personal stories as it is sophisticated in its political details. The first spy thriller to grapple squarely with the complexities and terrors of today?s world, this is a uniquely exciting and unnerving novel by an author who truly knows his territory. Review:"After proving his loyalty in Afghanistan and elsewhere, CIA agent John Wells, the first Western intelligence officer to penetrate the upper levels of al-Qaeda, is assigned a mission on American soil by bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. On his return to the U.S., Wells, now a devout Muslim (for real), finds his years spent in deep cover have left him conflicted. The agency itself seems wary of him — other than Jennifer Exley, the agency analyst who debriefs Wells (aka Jalal) on his return. The scrutiny intensifies when two bombs go off in L.A., killing 300. Berenson, a New York Times correspondent since 1999 who covered the occupation of Iraq, deftly employs the classic staples of spy fiction in his debut novel — self-serving bureaucrats, a beautiful co-worker love interest and an on-the-run hero suspected of being a traitor — then mixes in current terror tropes: car bombs, smuggled nuclear material, and bio-weapons. There's too much introspection from friend and foe alike, but mounting suspense, a believable scenario and a final twist add up to a compelling tale of frightening possibilities. It's not for the squeamish, though: the torture sequences and bombing descriptions are graphic and chillingly real." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Let's give New York Times reporter Alex Berenson credit for the year's most surefire thriller plot: CIA agent infiltrates al-Qaeda. It's such a sky-high concept that the film rights were auctioned off months ago, and Keanu Reeves may play undercover agent John Wells. If the idea is an inspired one in terms of commercial fiction, Berenson's execution of it is less so, but 'The Faithful Spy' offers... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"The plotting is superlative, baffling readers and characters alike.... Review:"A thriller worthy of le Carré....The payoff is tremendous....Well done throughout, and sure to be noticed." Kirkus Reviews Review:"The Faithful Spy offers a well-informed, often chilling look at how al-Qaeda might launch a major new attack in the United States....[A] first-rate thriller." Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Review:"A well-crafted page-turner that addresses the most important issue of our time. It will keep you reading well into the night." Vince Flynn Review:"The threats with which this thriller deals — fertilizer bombs, the plague, anthrax — are all too common, and a tepid romance that seems to have no real foundation adds little to the mix. Well written, but pretty standard stuff." Library Journal Review:"Berenson, who has a superb eye for the telling detail, is excellent at describing Wells's relations with his new chums in Afghanistan as well as battle scenes." Jacob Heilbrunn, The New York Times Book Review Review:"For sheer drama, no one can fault Berenson's plot....What Berenson ends up with is a book that is more interesting than it is engrossing. A reader will feel like there's a real story here, if only it had a better storyteller." Detroit Free Press About the AuthorAlex Berenson is a reporter for the New York Times who has covered topics ranging from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans. He graduated from Yale University in 1994 with degrees in history and economics. This is his first novel. He lives in New York City. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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