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Victor in the Rubble (The Victor Caro series) Paperback – March 23, 2016

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 203 ratings

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Victor Caro is a counterterrorism officer with the CYA, caught in a world where job security trumps national security. On assignment in West Africa in a post-9/11 world, he is tasked with hunting down the terrorist Omar al-Suqqit, who is looking to launch his group of ragtag militants onto the international jihadi stage. But chasing a terrorist proves an easier challenge than managing his agency’s bureaucracy. Omar, meanwhile, faces his own bureaucratic struggles as he joins forces with a global terrorist group that begins micro-managing its franchises in an effort to streamline attacks. When Victor appears on his own country’s Terrorist Watch List and Omar finds himself struggling to write “Lessons Learned” in the suicide bomber program, they each realize they might have a common enemy: red tape.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"VICTOR IN THE RUBBLE IS A DELIGHT. IT PRODUCES THAT SAME SENSE OF GLEE THAT COMES FROM OPENING AN MRE TO FIND A POP TART PERFECTLY WHOLE RATHER THAN SMASHED INTO A GAZILLION CRUMBLES." - The Strategy Bridge"WICKEDLY FUNNY!" - Inglorious Amateurs

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Smiling Hippo Press (March 23, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 099725100X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997251005
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.72 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 203 ratings

About the author

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Alex Finley
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Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. Before becoming a bureaucrat living large off the system, she chased puffy white men around Washington, DC, as a member of the wild dog pack better known as the Washington media elite. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, and other publications. Visit her web site: alexzfinley.com. Follow her on Twitter: @alexzfinley

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
203 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book humorous and entertaining. They appreciate the author's ability to capture the absurdities of bureaucracy in an easy-to-read narrative style. The satire feels familiar to those who have worked in the government.

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24 customers mention "Humor"22 positive2 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it entertaining and easy to read, with a fast-paced dark comedy that makes them laugh out loud. The satire is relatable for anyone who has worked in the government. Overall, readers describe it as a must-read.

"...for a government entity in any capacity, you’ll find this novel highly entertaining!" Read more

"...tradition of Johnathan Swift, Ms Finley hits the target in this easy reading satire. If you were in the Agency, portions of it can really hit home...." Read more

"Loved the humor and sorry line of this book. A fun read and unusual twist on the spy novel genre." Read more

"This book is a pretty good satire of government bureaucracy...." Read more

5 customers mention "Narrative style"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's narrative style. They find it humorous and unlike typical CIA novels. The book is described as a funny story about bureaucratic organizations.

"Loved the humor and sorry line of this book. A fun read and unusual twist on the spy novel genre." Read more

"...military, or other, will find this book hilarious and depressingly familiar. For those planning on such a career, this is a valuable introduction...." Read more

"The author truly captures the absurdities of bureacracy, no matter where it operates. Got more than a few chuckles. Highly recommend!" Read more

"I really enjoyed this book - funny story about bureaucratic organizations of all kinds, and the people who survive them!..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2024
    This was an extremely fun book! If you like satirical fiction or you’ve ever worked for a government entity in any capacity, you’ll find this novel highly entertaining!
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2016
    This is a funny book. However, like all satire it can also be read on several levels. The author notes in her Acknowledgements page that she began the project as a catharsis. Anyone who served in the Agency prior to 9/11 probably can share her professional frustration with the decision-making and leadership that changed the Agency from a strategic intelligence organization into a counterterrorism one.
    Like the 1968 novel “MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors” by Richard Hooker (pen name) or the film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”, the 1964 dark political satire, Ms Finley uses absurd situations and inept characters as metaphors to demonstrate what happens when an organizational culture created to use flexibility and personal initiative to accomplish government tasks with “plausible denial” is changed into a bureaucratic nightmare where coordination vice mission accomplishment is viewed as the objective.
    She does this with the CYA, the American counterterrorism organization, and the Core, the worldwide terrorist organization which decides that the way to expand its brand within terrorist circles is to follow the corporate model of bureaucratic structure. The reader quickly figures out who these organizations are meant to represent. Both are populated with inept people who quickly rise in prestige and authority at their headquarters, while field personnel, on the ground and aware of local realities, suffer from a support structure without expertise and experience - but, a great deal of bureaucracy and political correctness.
    The Case Office Victor and his Chief of Station Zed are typical field types, who somehow try to accomplish something while their headquarters, and the multi-layers of the intelligence community, grind them down at every turn. Omar, the Terrorist, is equally pure in his attempts to accomplish his goals but also faces similar issues with a growing terrorist bureaucracy. There are also some recognizable swipes at political and governmental leaders who are so more in their own minds than in their practices.
    In the tradition of Johnathan Swift, Ms Finley hits the target in this easy reading satire. If you were in the Agency, portions of it can really hit home. If not, it is funny enough to keep you entertained.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2023
    Loved the humor and sorry line of this book. A fun read and unusual twist on the spy novel genre.
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2017
    This book is a pretty good satire of government bureaucracy. It shows how the system can prevent real action from happening and how people doing the right thing in the system can be punished. Recommend.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022
    Because you will spray the book and everything else in the area. This book is hysterical!!!

    I'm going to tell people that Alex Finley is my favorite ex-wife. Because not only have I never married her, I've never met her. I wish my other ex-wives had those qualities.

    But Alex stands out above the rest for another reason: she is FUNNY! And insightful.

    While these books are a parody of the CIA, they work quite well for other organizations as well. I would swear that I had worked for some of those supervisors and administrators.

    Buy all three books, it keeps getting better. Some of the parody builds on itself. Extending the "logic" of department policy into various areas only reinforces how absurd it was in the first place.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022
    Anyone who has been in the federal bureaucracy, whether intelligence, military, or other, will find this book hilarious and depressingly familiar. For those planning on such a career, this is a valuable introduction. Those without a sense of humor should avoid the book.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2023
    Not that there's anything wrong with Young Adult Fiction, but listing in an adult market is deceptive for an authors market. Whoa, oh, I never realized what a kiss could be..this could only happen to me can't you see, can't you see. I didn't see.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2017
    The book starts out a bit too farcical for me, but it quickly recovers once you get over the silly name jokes ('Bin Fuqqin'). The whole story made me think of Air Babylon, a fictional 24 hour account of life in the airline industry, where the author promises us that however outlandish, every situation in the book has happened - just not in a single stretch of 24 hours. Victor in the Rubble is probably like that, and quite a lot of it is hilarious. One example is the protagonist accidentally ending up on the "no fly list", and no one can get him off it because that requires proving he is not a terrorist, which is hard. But it is trivial to say "hang on, that was a typo" and change the entry so it no longer matches the person. This sounds like the stuff that has actually happened. So by all means enjoy stories of Jihadists hanging out at the 'Teahadi' in their base, recounting stories eerily similar to the stories told by the CYA employees at the new Starbucks in their office in Langley!
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Peter Johnson
    2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on May 24, 2017
    Read about 50 pages and gave up. Infantile!
  • Henning
    2.0 out of 5 stars Average
    Reviewed in Germany on April 21, 2017
    Average. Somehow funny. Nothing special. Not bad, but I almost forgot that I read it. Expected some inside from the intelligence community - there's nothing, the author was a journalist before. Wouldn't buy it again.