Faithful Spy

Alex Berenson
(Random House; $24.95)

Berenson is a reporter turned fiction writer so I was curious to see what the results were. I love a good spy book -- all the twists and turns, cloaks and daggers and most importantly smoke and mirror mind games. Berenson doesn't disappoint -- h'’s studied the technicalities of spy craft and is reasonable at translating them to a story. The Faithful Spy is about CIA agent John Wells who, after proving his abilities with the special forces in Afghanistan, agrees to penetrate al-Qaeda. His mission becomes long--term and he is deeply undercover and is basically unable to report back on his activities. He was unable to foresee 9/11 and he is deeply committed to preventing the next 9/11 but finds himself deeply confused about how to do this. In his years in al-Qaeda, he has become trusted enough to rise through the ranks of al-Qaeda and, as a result, to be operating and interacting with key commanders. His final test from al-Qaeda is to be sent back to the United States -- who better than to be undercover in the United States than a Caucasian male citizen? -- as a part of a terrorist cell. John's major conflict arises when he realizes that he knows nothing about what his mission -- or missions -- will be and how much of his mission is a test of his loyalty or his true mission to find paradise. And, to make matters more confusing, the CIA is not sure what side John is playing on anymore. Berenson presents an incredibly disturbing situation that feels frightfully real.

The presentation of bureaucracy is brilliant; the constant Catch-22 that Wells and his handlers and both al-Qaeda and the government are in are chillingly real and believable; and nothing that happens in the book feels even remotely a stretch -- everything seems doable. And this is the true power of The Faithful Spy. Berenson only lays out "the facts" -- as much as this is a work of fiction -- and the reader is left with a disturbing, chilling and very real picture of how the “war against terrorism” may be playing out. A brilliant first book that continues to come back and haunt my thoughts.

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