The Deceivers by Alex Berenson

If you think all the hoopla surrounding potential collusion by Russia to rig the 2016 election is even remotely horrifying, you really do need to read Alex Berenson’s take on Russian meddling.

Ahmed Shakir is a two-bit dealer in Dallas. Deals enough to get by and not get on anyone’s radar. Doesn’t love the life, but it works for him. He may be Muslim by birth, but he has little use for Islam. He does have a couple cousins who talk a big game, but that’s it. Ahmed gets cornered by the FBI. Told that if he helps the FBI nab his cousins, they will make all his drug-related crimes disappear.

Through his FBI contacts, Ahmed starts to egg on his cousins. Promises them guns and money. Arranges for firearms training. Even joins them at the mosque. A target is set. The American Airlines arena where the Dallas Mavericks play. A date is finalized. The FBI tells Ahmed to go ahead. A car for them will be parked close to the arena with all the tools needed. But don’t worry, says the FBI. The firing pins will all be removed. The cousins just need to open the truck and pull the rifles. The FBI will sweep in and stop the attack before it gets started.

But it all goes horribly wrong. The cousins grab the guns and start firing at the crowd coming to the game. Ahmed rushes to the trunk. The place for the spare tire is loaded with C4. Once the smoke settles, over 400 people had been killed. The worst terrorist attack since 9/11.

Post slaughter forensics reveals little. President Duto calls in his own ‘police force’, John Wells and John's long-time CIA contact, Ellis Shafer. While John and Ellis remain CIA tight, ex-DCI Duto isn’t part of this little inner circle (see some of Berenson’s recent books for that backstory). Wells wants to dig into the Dallas bombing, but Duto sends Wells off to Colombia to try and track the drugs Ahmed was dealing.

Tom Miller, a former Army sniper, two tours in Afghanistan, post head injury, some PTSD, and 60% disability lives in nowhere western Washington. He’s in a bar and steps in when he sees a couple former army officers hassle a woman, Allie. She has her own issues having been sexually assaulted as a young girl, but she is grateful for what Tom did for her. Over the coming weeks, this chance meeting turns romantic.

The trail Duto put Wells on doesn’t quite go as planned, sending Wells into Colombia, then to Quito, Ecuador, back to Dallas, then Mexico City tracking money that gradually begins to smell suspiciously Russian. If what he is finding is true, the Russians are out for far more than anyone thought possible.

As the relationship between Allie and Tom grows, she opens about her history and convinces Tom to help her settle some scores. They hit the road to use Tom’s sniper skills.

The FBI are still stumbling in their attempts to work the Dallas bombing case. Wells may have started looking at the drugs supplied to Ahmed, he veers off and comes to realize Miller is behind a couple recent sniper kills. Only Wells and Shafer seem to believe the two are connected. And it’s up to them to stop the next kill, this time it's Duto’s nemesis in the Senate and likely opponent in the next election.

This is the 12^th John Wells series from Berenson. While I still think #1 (The Faithful Spy) was the best of the bunch, from #2 and onward, each is better than the previous. The Deceivers, however, differs from previous John Wells adventures. In previous books, Wells sets of for some of the world’s most dangerous locations to face off with a few dozen jihadi fanatics and take them down hard. A high body count was one of the hallmarks of Wells’ presence. This book is more of a police investigation and less brute muscle and a few thousand bullet casings. We watch Wells track clues from one source to the next and next with little of what Wells normally leaves in his wake. Good investigatory police work, that’s what this is.

But it’s no less riveting. Body count is not correlated with enjoyment. Just be prepared to devote a couple long days without disturbance. Trust me, you won’t want to be distracted. 

Available Feb 6, 2018. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

The Prisoner by Alex Berenson

Two seemingly unrelated tasks are at play. First, a Tunisian with substantial education in chemistry has been a loyal ISIS soldier for a couple years. He finagles a meeting with an ISIS honcho and convinces him that he can manufacture Sarin gas. 

Second, a simple extraction in the border between Turkey and Kush-held provinces goes wrong and two of the CIA’s best middle east operatives are ambushed. Rather than be captured and tortured, they both committed suicide. The powers that be on the seventh floor of Langley start doing some soul searching. ISIS must have a mole inside the CIA.

We all know that Guantanamo is just the most visible place for ‘detainees’ and that there are other off-book sites scattered around the globe. One is called The Castle in Bulgaria. At one time it was a castle, but it’s now one of those sites. And it’s been heavily remodeled for its current role in detaining middle east terrorists. The CIA suggested that the Bulgarians make sure that there was a prayer room in the remodel. What the Bulgarian’s didn’t tell the CIA is that they wired the place for sound to eavesdrop on conversations. And they heard a doozy. A mid-level commander in ISIS suggested that they’ve been receiving advance warning of various actions.

When you’ve been in the espionage business as long as John Wells, you develop lots of enemies and some good friends. Kirkov is the head of the Bulgarian security services and is one of John’s really good friends. He contacts Wells instead to the CIA because who knows who might receive his warning. Kirkov tells Wells and Wells contacts his former handler (and now the grandfatherly Shafer who is an annoying curmudgeon within Langley). They take this info to President ‘Vinny’ Duto (their former CIA boss) and get backhanded approval to try and set a trap to uncover the mole. Problem is no one in the CIA can know about it. No telling how high up the mole might be placed.

The trap requires some pretty sketchy undercover work by Wells. He must try to resurrect his history as an undercover agent in Al Qaeda, assume a false identity, hide in remote Pakistan, get captured by the US, undergo some rendition before getting transferred to The Castle. There he must gain the trust of the ISIS prisoner, try to wiggle some tidbit of information about the mole, alert Shafer, and then flush out the mole.

Everything comes to a head in Paris with an intricate plot developed by an previously unknown ISIS sympathizer who goes by the name of The Puma. One attack will trigger an outpouring of sympathy which will be followed by an even more devastating assault.

The book is a logical (or as logical as a thriller can be) buildup from first blood to initial awareness to plot to execution. But once Wells gets out of prison, Berenson throws the chase into overdrive by ramping up the tension and pace to a point where you might almost be breathless. I was. For my two cents, Berenson remains this is the real deal in political action thrillers. Relentless tension. Believable plot. Expert pacing. An absolute first rate espionage thriller that hits on all cylinders from first page to the light speed conclusion.

A must-read because Berenson delivers.

ECD

The Wolves by Alex Berenson

When Berenson's previous John Wells book, Twelve Days, left off, Wells had convinced the President that the intel on Iran having a nuke was false and at the last minute, the invasion of Iran was called off. The architect of the false intel was Aaron Duberman, an American-born Jew and casino megabillionaire. The invasion was called off, but Duberman remained at large in Israel. 

The Wolves picks up the next week. The President has saved face, but his potential failure has put his entire administration in jeopardy; political pressure might force his resignation. Has to be knowing that Duberman is one of the Presdent's biggest donors. War was averted, but Wells still wants Duberman. The President loosens the reins on Wells, but will offer neither aid nor support if Wells chooses to go after Duberman.

Duberman knows Wells will be coming. Each knows the other is not safe until only one remains alive. The one thing the President does is squeeze Israel to kick Duberman out and force him to be on the run. Duberman retreats to his mountain fortress in Hong Kong near his feature casino.

His casino in expanding and the biggest of the big high rollers make the pilgrimage to Hong Kong, including the highest ranking general in the Chinese Air Force. The casino takes customer service to extremes and General Han has a liking for young girls. Plus, a Russian intelligence operative leans on an arms dealer (from Twelve Days) to recruit Duberman as a source for intel on China's military (via General Han).

Wells works his way into Hong Kong and sets Duberman's paranoia detector in high gear. He has Wells, the Russians, the Chinese, his security, and his wife threatening him from all directions. The Wolves are indeed baying at his door.

In previous John Wells books (all of which we have reviewed), the focus of the story is on Wells and his seemingly superhuman instincts. This time, however, Duberman's fate garners the largest fraction of the book. When Wells tightens a screw, Duberman has to juggle numerous possible outcomes, few of which are favorable. That Berenson emphasizes Duberman's fall, doesn't make this any less of a terrific and fast-paced tale. Berenson remains a consistent and enthralling story teller.

As people like us at MRB are famous for saying, "Buckle up, boys. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Especially for Duberman.

ECD

Twelve Days by Alex Berenson

And this was what I was waiting for . . . don't this short review fool you.

Word of warning. Where The Counterfeit Agent left off, Twelve Days continues almost immediately. My advice is to read The Counterfeit Agent first before picking this up. Too many details.

John Wells has tracked the highly enriched uranium, that was the primary issue in the previous book, and the data suggests that the Iranian's first nuclear bomb would be ready is very short order. The American security apparatus' interpretation  has convinced the Joint Chiefs and the President who now issues the order to prepare for war. Get the military on the Iranian borders and wait for the attack order. The President has told the world that the Iranian government will open their nuclear facilities peacefully or in twelve days, the Americans will forcibly open them and leave nothing but dust in their wake.

Wells, Senator Vinny Duto (former DCI), and Elis Shafer (aging spook, all from the previous book) are still trying to track the source of the HEU and who, if it isn't the Iranians, is behind this insanity. The US is being taunted. Three passenger jets are blown out of the sky. Again, it appears that Iran is behind the attacks.

Wells crisscrosses the Middle East, eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa following clues (and leaving bodies) to who is behind the plot and the source of the HEU. At each stop, he experiences the espionage version of 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. And all the while a clock is ticking towards the Presidential deadline.

For those who aren't Berenson converts . . . you really should be. Since his outstanding rookie effort, The Faithful Spy, Berenson has ratcheted up the tension with each John Wells book (now up to 9). Absolutely first rate thrillers. On a par with the best thriller writers of today. So if you are up to 8 Berenson books, prepare for #9. You won't be sorry. If you are new to Berenson, start with his first. Once hooked, it'll be a quick ride through Berenson's catalogue. Trust me.

East Coast Don

The Counterfeit Agent by Alex Berenson

Apparently, a few decades ago, a whole bunch of nations were trying to get the bomb, or at least weapons grade uranium, but most abandoned their efforts and shut it all down. One enterprising engineer managed to hang onto a few kilos of the stuff just in case there might be someone interested in making a covert purchase.

A CIA case officer in Peru got involved with a local, but when he came back from a trip early he found his lovely in the sack with another case officer and sought assignment far away, like Hong Kong where, with the help of a decent inheritance, went bonkers for black jack, eventually mustering out of the CIA and falling off the grid.

Not to mention that European businessmen with Iranian contracts are winding up dead.

In walks "Reza" to the US embassy in Istanbul. Says he is an officer in the Revolutionary Guard and fed up with the path his government is taking. Tells the local case officer that Iran is planning of bombing 2 Israeli embassies . . . and it happens. Months pass and the CIA's got nothing on Reza. Then Reza says that Iran is planning on taking out a CIA Chief of Station somewhere in Asia. Shortly afterwards, the Manila COS is gunned down.

By now, not only is Langley interested in Reza, but so is Ellis Shafer, a former DCI, and the most recent DCI Vinny Duto (now Senator Duto). While the suits that make all the decisions are starting to believe that maybe Reza is the real thing, Ellis and Duto, never great friends, are  in agreement that Iran's involvement in the recent attacks make no sense. But Washington is feeling pulled toward war, especially when Reza says a test run is underway right now to insert fissionable material in the US, not for Iran to bomb the US, but to build a bomb inside the US to use as a deterrent against a possible US strike on Iran.

Whoever is behind it all is very good. Excellent tradecraft, smart planning, and very well funded. Shafer convinces his best muscle, John Wells, to start tracking down clues that take him from DC to Guatemala to Panama to Peru to Texas to Phuket to Istanbul. And you know that whenever Wells gets a scent, bodies start to pile up.

As usual, full disclosure: Berenson in firmly entrenched way up high in my power rotation and has been since The Faithful Spy, his first novel. He has developed Wells into one of the more compelling characters amongst modern thriller heroes and the plots are fresh and entirely believable. There are plenty of those 'seriously?' moments and hold-your-breath sequences that have become signatures of Berenson. If you miss Mitch Rapp after the untimely passing of Vince Flynn, then run, don't walk, and start in with John Wells from the beginning. You will not be disappointed. Books like this populate the alter where the MRB guys worship.

East Coast Don

The Night Ranger by Alex Berenson

Gwen, Hailey, Scott, and Owen are recent U Montana grads. Looking for an adventure? Delaying their entry into the ‘real world’? Nothing better to do? Scott’s uncle is the executive director of WorldCares, an aid organization and suggests they do a tour at a camp for Somalia refugees in Kenya. 

The uncle, James Thompson, is a wiz at fundraising. Has to be to support his $800K salary. WorldCares is also near the bottom when it comes to how much of the money actually gets to those in need. His upcoming book should help bring in more money.

Twelve weeks in, the foursome is in need of a break. Scott and the camp’s fixer (a guy who cuts through the red tape of Kenya) convince the others that this small island off the coast would beat the typical safari favored by what tourists get to Kenya. They all take off for a long island weekend.

And get kidnapped. Here begins “Taken: Africa”(but I don't see Liam Neeson in the role of John Wells)

John Wells’ long estranged son, also a U Montana student, calls from out of the blue.  He knows Gwen’s family and is there anything he could do. Wells is a man who always needs a mission (and a need to reconnect with his son) and heads off to see if he might be able to help out.

The kidnapping of 4 young, good looking American aid workers is worldwide news. The Kenyan police are sure that al Qaeda remnants in Somalia did it. Wells hires his own fixer and between the two, they interview Thompson, the day-to-day camp director, and other volunteers; get the necessary permits to travel freely (so to speak) in the bush.  Thompson puts on a performance at a press conference in Nairobi that is so convincing that even the jaded Wells is reaching for his checkbook.  

On the plains of the Kenya-Somalia border, warring gangs are at each other’s throats, always in need of money. The four kids are being held near the border. One undermanned and underfunded gang learns of the hideout and kidnaps the kidnapped.

The press is having a field day. Pressure is mounting on the President. Send in the SEALs, invade Somalia (payback for Black Hawk Down catastrophe?), bury this nonsense in Somalia once and for all. What started out as a garden variety kidnapping in Africa could end up as a full scale invasion and war.

Wells has only a few days to find out why this particular kidnapping took place, who stands to benefit, and whether war is the answer.

Berenson’s 7^th John Wells book takes a different path than the earlier books. Wells isn’t saving the world, he’s responding to a plea from his son and would do anything to help repair that relationship (book #8?). We learn about Wells’ first kill and the guilt that still plagues a man who kills without mercy. While the body count in this book pales in comparison with the earlier 6 books, this story puts Wells in unfamiliar territory where his past experiences are of little help in eastern Africa. But he does have a skill set and a degree of treachery needed to survive and succeed where traditional police work fails. Of particular interest is that during the various takedowns, Wells is on his sat phone to Langley with Shafer, his mentor, giving instructions to Augustine Tomaso, a CIA drone pilot (guessing we’ll see more of Tomaso in the future; hope so) who broadcasts real-time video back to headquarters while preparing laser-guided bombs and hellfire missiles to support Wells; a takedown coordinated in real time half a world away.

Berenson rocketed into my personal power rotation with The Faithful Spy and has stayed there consistently. The Night Ranger assures me that he and Wells remain firmly fixed amongst my favs.

East Coast Don

The Shadow Patrol

Just released last month, this is the 6th book in the John Wells series, all of which have been favorably reviewed in the blog. Berenson knows how to spin a story, how to have his characters evolve from one book to the next, and how to keep the reader in suspense. Berenson is one of my main authors, and while he presents John Wells as a tough and morally inflexible figure, seemingly a caricature of the protagonists in our blog, he just does it so well. The book mostly takes place in Afghanistan and the story starts with the suicide bombing that took out a critical CIA station, killing seven people and thereby crippling the effort for several years. (Do you remember when that really happened.) In the vacuum left behind, unexpected things were happening with the military efforts, strikes were being made when the targets were not there. It became clear that there was a mole in the CIA who was tipping off key Afghanis about how to avoid the next droid strike, when to escape from the next stealth attack, etc. John Wells was brought into find out what he could. It seems the heroin trade was somehow involved and some soldiers were making big money by participating in it, but they were tied to and directed by someone that was high up in the CIA chain of authority. This was a fast read for me, one I could not put down, and I did not see the twist coming that brought the story to a resolution. At the same time, although it was fiction, I thought the book brought me to a better understanding of the war effort. Berenson’s writing is strong, and the dialogue is excellent. If you haven’t read Berenson, start with the first book in the series, “The Faithful Spy,” and work your way forward. You have a lot to look forward to.

The Secret Soldier by Alex Berenson

Part V of the John Wells saga.

John Wells is out of the CIA and living the quiet life with his North Conway, New Hampshire cop girlfriend. Been a civilian for 2 years now. Unfortunately, there is a loose end in the double agent Robinson who ran off at the end of Midnight House. A chance postcard to Robinson’s spouse alerts the CIA to send (ask) Wells to Montego Bay; if private citizen Wells tracks the guy down the CIA isn’t involved. Wells and Gaffan, a soldier he met in Afghanistan, perform the take down. No problemo.

About the same time, a coordinated series of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia kills hundreds. On the lead is a former Saudi security officer who believes that surviving a desert 4-wheeler accident years before is a call by Allah to form a group of loyal believers and wait for a mission. Bakr believes that the royal family has lost their way and the line of succession that King Abdullah wants is not what his brother Saeed thinks would be the best direction for a new Islamic republic.

This splinter cell is training in Syria and conducts an execution of King Abdullah’s granddaughter raising the stakes. Abdullah is at first shaken, then his anger is directed toward his brother, but he can’t verify anything. And he can’t use the Saudi police, the royal’s security force, or the Islamic police because Saeed controls them all. He needs someone totally outside who can find out if Saeed is behind this mess.

John Wells.

Now Wells hasn’t killed in 2 years, but he is pretty sure he will be killing again, real soon. He calls Gaffan and they start to track down clues through Egypt, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. The old skills never left him. As the great sage Don Henley once said, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Bakr not only wants to bring down the House of Saud, he wants to provoke a war between Saudi Arabia and the US and has a pretty good plan – kidnap the American ambassador, make ridiculous demands, cut off some limbs, provoke the US to invade and voila, end of US presence 0n the Arabian peninsula. And he nearly pulls it off if not for Wells tracking the hostage to Mecca and uncovering damaging evidence about Saeed.

Now the palace intrigue may indeed be reminiscent of some old Shakespeare play or Greek tragedy; I wouldn’t know. But the House of Saud is seriously screwed up. This was another believable tale of high-energy espionage with uber agent and alpha dog, but emotionally bruised John Wells, plowing the road. Can’t say I could see any clues about where the next book will take us, but wherever it goes, I guarantee, I’ll be there. A quick run through Berensen’s first 5 books ends here. Now I have to patiently await his next.

East Coast Don

The Midnight House by Alex Berenson

This is part 4 of 5 (so far) in the John Wells saga.

John and his fiancé have split sending John to the outback of New Hampshire to collect his emotions and figure out his post-CIA future. The morning after the one night he gets lucky, he gets a call from his former boss, Ellis Shafer.

A CIA operative has been gunned down in his car. A former Ranger has been shot dead on his doorstep. A former Army psychiatrist has committed suicide, two others died under strange circumstances. The connection is they were all a part of the 10-member Task Force 673 and Ellis and the DCI want John to see if he might be able to find out who is on the hunt.

Task Force 673 was a joint Pentagon-CIA project housed on an abandoned air base in Poland. Here, the baddest of the jihadis were housed, interrogated, and broken. No rules, no paper trail, just don’t leave any visible marks. The task force was nine guys, all experienced in high-level interrogation, and a shrink to keep watch over the bad guys as well as the members of the task force. And someone is after them, one by one.

The obvious thought is that some Islamic fanatic is exacting revenge on the team for what they did and John is thrust back into the Middle East to gather information. And what he finds is shocking to even someone with John Wells’ sensibilities. Interrogations that bordered on barbaric, money skimmed by members of the task force, a connection with the Pakistani secret police, the murder of a Pakistani political dissident, safes dropped into the Black Sea, political ambition, executive level cover ups and deception within the CIA, Pentagon, and the White House – all of which started with some obscure incident in Poland followed by the erasure of 2 prisoner ID numbers from a database of captured enemy combatants kept under the highest level of security by the NSA.

The key is the psychiatrist. While what she witnessed in Poland was disturbing, what sent her over the edge? She was the first of the unit to die. Why did she spiral downward upon finishing her assignment? And who is the next target?

This is the 4^th of 5 current John Wells novels by Alex Berenson. This one wasn’t as slam-bang, high body count as the first three books, but that doesn’t make it any less intense or suspenseful. This one is one part investigative procedural, one part political thriller, and one part mind game. Stir that all together and you get a terrific, almost mesmerizing tale of depravity, cynicism, revenge, political manipulations ‘for the greater good’ and an astounding lack of justice for the dead. All in all, this is one terrific book. Berenson has hit his 4^th home run in as many at bats.

Berenson's 5^th trip to the plate has been requested from my library. More on John Wells to follow.

East Coast Don

The Silent Man by Alex Berenson

When we last left John Wells, he was recovering from being tortured by the Chinese, then averting a confrontation between the two superpowers that could have led to WW III. All in a day’s work.

The jihadists want to make one mega strike against the Great Satan. They ‘convince’ a couple Russian cousins who work at a Siberian nuclear storage facility to steal two warheads. The Russians wonder why because without the activate codes, held in Moscow, the bombs are useless. No matter. With some intricate planning, two warheads leave the facility and are trucked to the coast of the Black Sea (bye-bye cousins) where they will be smuggled into Hamburg for a clandestine boat ride across the Atlantic to Canada to eventually find their way to the stable of a rural farmhouse near Corning, NY owned by an Egyptian trauma surgeon.

In NY, an Iraqi physicist plans to open the warheads (with the help of the surgeon and the mastermind thief), remove the enriched uranium and mold a new bomb, bypassing the codes, all in time to transport to DC just in time for the State of the Union. (and OMG, am I glad that Berenson didn’t follow Clancy’s lead from Sum of All Fears and go into ridiculous detail about making the bomb. He kept that part brief, thankfully).

Wells and his fiancé, a CIA honcho, are on their way to work when an accident on the bridge stalls traffic allowing 2 motorcycles to come up each side of their SUV and open fire injuring Exley.

Naturally, Wells is honked off . . . seriously honked off. The dead hitters were Russian, so off to Moscow to corner the connection where he learns a couple things. The man behind the hit is Kowalski, the arms dealer from The Ghost War. Kowalski also knows a bit about stealing uranium. But Kowalski knows a honked off Wells on your tail is no way to live, so he trades some sanity for a name.

The chase shifts into double secret overdrive now to find the bomb’s whereabouts. Dang near every FBI agent east of the Mississippi is on the case and some dogged detective work traces the three stooges to the NY farm, but they are gone.

It’s interesting to read a series like this so close together. It’s almost like a Saturday serial at the local theater as Wells goes from one peril to the next. Now that flippant statement should not be construed to be critical. This is high octane, testosterone driven, balls to the wall action with Wells as the center of attention, reminiscent of Mitch Rapp, Kirk McGarvey, et al. Is this what the Clandestine Service of the CIA is like. Probably not, Like the genre? No question you’ll like this one.

I’ve ordered #4 from the library. Stay tuned for the next installment.

East Coast Don

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson

The Taliban's tactics have improved. Flanking maneuvers, short bursts of automatic weapons fire instead of emptying a clip every 2 seconds, decoying. The Taliban has become a skilled opponent. Someone's helping them. There is rumor that China and Iran are working on a deal exchanging nukes for oil and a Chinese nuclear engineer on the CIA's books ends up dead and no one has any clue how or why. Connections?

John Wells is somewhat legendary after the Times Square incident at the end of The Faithful Spy, at least in the law enforcement community. But he is bored living in DC so he rides his motorcycle at all hours of the night at 100+ on the Beltway. The suits in the CIA and the brass at the Pentagon want to know how the Taliban has gotten so good and both buildings think Wells would be a good option to go digging around the caves of Afghanistan.

He joins a special forces unit with the goal of trying to capture one of these 'advisors' and in the firefight, Wells manages to do just that . . . and he's Russian.

Russian? Why would a Russian want to help any Afghan? Their memory can't be that short. The Afghans embarrassed the Russians. But this particular Russian is fairly chatty and gives up an arms dealer who is paying Russian mercs and this dealer has a connection inside China.

A 2nd level Chinese colonel is worried that his boss, in trying to gain more power, is dangerously close to starting a war between the US and China. Turns out this aide was once a CIA informant who has been dark for about 10 years, but in order to stop a war, he makes contact and wants to meet with someone who has never been to China, pass along what his boss is doing, and get the hell out of Dodge before the world blows up.

Who better than Wells? He travels to Beijing, despite the rising tensions between the two countries as a surge of Chinese nationalism as they stand up to the USA. He follows the plan for the meet, but gets picked up by Chinese security (was he set up?), is tortured harshly, and is doing his best to hold his cover when our colonel comes in, shoots the interrogators and pulls Wells out.

The dash is on to get out of Beijing to the coast where they can get rescued, pass info to Washington, and stop this insane war before things really get out of hand.

This is the 2nd in the John Wells saga by Berenson. While The Faithful Spy was a high intensity, fast-paced chase to thwart a catastrophic attack on Times Square, this book is more espionage and skullduggery as Wells tries to string together seemingly unrelated bits of information into a coherent series of connections between Washington, Beijing, Afghanistan, and this mysterious arms dealer.

If you are into this genre of books, you could do far worse. I've already requested the next in the series, The Silent Man, 3rd in the series of 5, so I suspect I'll move quite quickly through his work. He is that good . . . and productive as he has 5 novels in 5 years.

So . . . what are you waiting for?

East Coast Don

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson

John Wells, one quarter Palestinian, has the look. Dartmouth grad, adept in Arabic and some various dialects, and is a deadly shot. A convert to Islam whose distrust of the excesses of the west has made him a valued soldier for Allah. Ten years. Fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya.

And he is a CIA operative. His Al Qaeda bosses have a new task, a new responsibility, a new destination to take his Koran, to say his prayers.

He is being sent home. To wait. To wait for the call.

Wells is secreted into the US, but on his way to Atlanta, he contacts his handlers who haven’t heard from him in 10 years. While they trust him, others in the CIA aren’t so sure, but Wells still manages to go underground and wait for instructions.

In LA, 2 massive truck bombs are exploded, killing dozens attending a bar mitzvah or walking down Hollywood Blvd. A street person enters a storage locker that the FBI has staked out and ends up blowing himself up and scaring the crap out of Albany. A Muslim grad student in Montreal is busily growing plague virus in his basement, but how does he get it into the US and then how does he gets it spread into the NYC population. A Pakistani nuclear engineer has verified that some found radioactive material could be made into a dirty bomb.

The American infidels need to be prepared. Thousands are due to die by the bomb. Many more thousands will die the agony of the plague. And countless more will suffer radiation poisoning. When it all comes together, all the planning will be worth it when the Great Satan is brought to its knees.

The only real question is whether Wells is faithful to Allah or to his native land.

This is Berenson’s first book and it was an Edgar Award winner (the Edgar’s are for best new novel). He is a NYTimes writer who has covered Iraq so his descriptions of the Middle East have an authenticity I haven’t seen recently. He builds the tension higher and higher as plans progress, as Wells is tested again and again, as years of planning get changed in an instant and the shit has to fly NOW.

Now I like Flynn, Thor, Hagberg, et al. in the thriller/espionage genre, but I will definitely be making room on my bookshelf for Berenson and his can't-put-it-down novels. No question in my mind. This guy is a winner. I haven’t been this enthusiastic about an author after one just book since Hunter and Steinhauer. The real deal.

East Coast Don