The author (& screenwriter of Spy Game) writes deftly with incisive dialogue and humor. He details the hidden human motivations that drive spies and their masters, and with his command of intelligence tradecraft, rules that can be twisted, and an insider's grasp of the Agency’s culture, you have a recipe for great reading.
Beckner takes the reader into a high-stakes battle of wits and memories between two Cold Warriors that spans years and takes the reader through a dense wilderness of mirrors. Old operations and secrets no one wants revealed lie in wait and propel the story towards a whirlwind conclusion that will leave you breathless.
This is a deliciously layered tale told from the front porch of a Florida vacation home under the influence of good whisky cut with rainwater. There are echoes of Chandler, hints of Thompson, and a touch of Leonard, but make no mistake… it’s all Beckner telling the story.
Bahrain during the Arab Spring, a burned-out CIA officer, a full-of-himself Station Chief, and an agent who may or may not be what everyone thinks.
Former CIA officer I.S. Berry captures the essence of spy tradecraft accurately and authentically—what happens when you’re trying to avoid both the “friendlies” and the “bad” guys—as she describes life in a station and on the street with the pressure to produce accurate intelligence when everyone is pushing a different story.
Her great story goes through several unexpected flips, all very well executed, which gives the finalé even more impact. She has hit the nail squarely on the head with electrifying results.
I loved the plot, the characters, the setting—a great spy story.
During the Arab Spring, an American spy’s final mission goes dangerously awry in this explosive and “remarkable debut” (Joseph Kanon, New York Times bestselling author) from a former CIA officer that is perfect for fans of John le Carré, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Alan Furst.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission—uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency against the monarchy. But then he meets Almaisa,…
David McClosky is a “former” spook who infuses his storytelling with details only an insider would know.
He tells an excellent tale, diving deep into the fractured regime of Bashar al-Assad's Syria and showing what harm the nasty world of despots and the dark world of spying can wreak on souls. The story intertwines a forbidden love affair between a CIA officer and his agent while collecting intelligence on Syrian chemical weapons and Washington bureaucrats trying to decide what to do next.
It is an excellent representation of what it’s like to serve in a denied area and, having served in Damascus, I can say the scenery is accurate, the personalities are spot on, and the tradecraft is good. I’m looking forward to his next novel: Moscow X.
CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.
But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared…
Dead Hand is a spy thriller that finds former CIA case officer Joshua Devlin coaxed out of retirement to help the Agency with a highly unusual and dangerous mission. Devlin's unique skills make him the perfect "babysitter" for another officer, Gabriel Batkhü, who must rendezvous with a mysterious Russian spy code-named Hammer, a man who could get all of them killed. This Russian knows all of the Kremlin's secrets, so when he asks for an emergency meeting and mentions the codeword for an insane, nuclear war-related scenario, alarm bells go off all over Washington. Set in present-day Europe, this adventure shows what the world could be like if Russia's war in Ukraine expanded to the Baltics, and the heart-stopping choices individuals on the front line face every day.
