- Mass Market Paperback: 431 pages
- Publisher: Avon Books; Reprint edition (Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060758252
- ISBN-13: 978-0060758257
- Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 11.7 x 3.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,433,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The CIA has degenerated under its current management and can't perform its main mission: to supply "humint", or human-gathered intelligence, to the Government, and to prevent as much as possible anything unfriendly or detrimental to the US from happening. It therefore has to outsource some (or most) of its non-paper-shuffling-bureaucratic activities to private contractors. A former CIA case officer, employed by one of those contractors, must uncover and neutralize a network of Islamic terrorists. But he must also battle the CIA itself, that apparently is foiling his (and others') efforts to fulfil his (their) mission. At the end, things sort themselves out.
Amazon's US site reviewer John writes "I kept having to remind myself that I am reading fiction, because this novel is so authentic ... ". He's totally right, and that's the trouble. For a thriller, this is (IMO, of course) very, very boring: I think half the space is taken up by remarks or thoughts of one character on another, or the author himself, saying something like "Now, if this were a detective novel/whodunit/spy story/thriller/etc., then the hero would do such and such, but in the real world things are different, so the hard way to do it is ... , and that's exactly what XYZ did ... ".
So I don't dispute that this book is the real thing, and that real events just don't develop as in a page-turner but consist mostly of drudgery, of sifting through interminable lists, etc., but if I want to know about the real thing, then I read about the real thing, and not fictive characters involved in fictive ops.
I don't doubt for a moment that the tome is entertainig to intelligence buffs, but I'm not one of them (I mean, up to a point I like to read about codes, spies' bios, Intelligence Agencies' stories and so forth, but from books referring to the actual thing). Moreover, this particular story isn't totally realistic either, but has its own unbelievably efficient and tough Mossad agent, which is scarcely credible precisely because in real life agents are stupid like you and me (alright, only me).
And to top everything off nicely, the really important event that constitutes the book's denouement comes as a surprise, an afterthought, since the story's backbone is about another thing entirely for maybe nine-tenths of its length.
To conclude, this is the last thing I'll read from this author, at least as fiction (it suddendly occurrs to me as I'm writing the review that this type of narrative is really a branch of the historical novel genre; but if you've read, say, "Sunne in Splendour" or "The Golden Warrior", you'll understand the difference between a masterpiece and a run-of-the-mill product).
Amazon's US site reviewer John writes "I kept having to remind myself that I am reading fiction, because this novel is so authentic ... ". He's totally right, and that's the trouble. For a thriller, this is (IMO, of course) very, very boring: I think half the space is taken up by remarks or thoughts of one character on another, or the author himself, saying something like "Now, if this were a detective novel/whodunit/spy story/thriller/etc., then the hero would do such and such, but in the real world things are different, so the hard way to do it is ... , and that's exactly what XYZ did ... ".
So I don't dispute that this book is the real thing, and that real events just don't develop as in a page-turner but consist mostly of drudgery, of sifting through interminable lists, etc., but if I want to know about the real thing, then I read about the real thing, and not fictive characters involved in fictive ops.
I don't doubt for a moment that the tome is entertainig to intelligence buffs, but I'm not one of them (I mean, up to a point I like to read about codes, spies' bios, Intelligence Agencies' stories and so forth, but from books referring to the actual thing). Moreover, this particular story isn't totally realistic either, but has its own unbelievably efficient and tough Mossad agent, which is scarcely credible precisely because in real life agents are stupid like you and me (alright, only me).
And to top everything off nicely, the really important event that constitutes the book's denouement comes as a surprise, an afterthought, since the story's backbone is about another thing entirely for maybe nine-tenths of its length.
To conclude, this is the last thing I'll read from this author, at least as fiction (it suddendly occurrs to me as I'm writing the review that this type of narrative is really a branch of the historical novel genre; but if you've read, say, "Sunne in Splendour" or "The Golden Warrior", you'll understand the difference between a masterpiece and a run-of-the-mill product).
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Better than the 9/11 Commission Reports
8 Mar 2008
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I kept having to remind myself that I am reading fiction, because this novel is so authentic. From the dsyfunctional CIA that is run by careerist bureaucrats who then have to "outsource" and "offshore" the work to ex-agents, to depictions of what a real Israeli interrogation cell is like on the inside, I found this novel to be excellent. It has the ring of truth to it. I also like it that the main character is not an expert in everything all at once. At one point, the author states that Tom has not shot a gun in 10 years. That to me is more realistic than the "Bourne" type guy, who, next to being able to speak Russian, German, French, and Thai fluently, also is a killer with a gun, and also has ridiculous martial arts skills that it would take 10 years of intense study to attain, etc. No one can be good at everything.
I really like this realistic novel of the reality of how the world works. The line by the Israeli about the U.S. being too soft on terrorists and criminals in general (letting murders get degrees from inside prison, as if they are in college, etc.) is bound to be disliked by liberals, but I also doubt that many liberals are going to read this book. I liked it a lot. To me, the book has the ring of the authentic.
And I am the kind of guy who likes to read novels and then point out stuff that is not consistent with reality (handguns referred to as "automatic pistols", etc. The author doesn't do any of that).
I really like this realistic novel of the reality of how the world works. The line by the Israeli about the U.S. being too soft on terrorists and criminals in general (letting murders get degrees from inside prison, as if they are in college, etc.) is bound to be disliked by liberals, but I also doubt that many liberals are going to read this book. I liked it a lot. To me, the book has the ring of the authentic.
And I am the kind of guy who likes to read novels and then point out stuff that is not consistent with reality (handguns referred to as "automatic pistols", etc. The author doesn't do any of that).
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Well written, tired plot
10 Jan 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The bumbling CIA, and outsourced retired agents winning the day, has become a cliche in this genre. This book however, is well writen, and provides a special insight into the Israli/Jewish, special forces, situation and mindset.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Take it or leave it? Leave it
22 Feb 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
[There's a summary of the plot in the "Editorial Reviews - Product escription" of this page, so I won't repeat it here].
Reviewer John writes "I kept having to remind myself that I am reading fiction, because this novel is so authentic ... ". He's totally right, and that's the trouble. For a thriller, this is (IMO, of course) very, very boring: I think half the space is taken up by remarks or thoughts of one character on another, or the author himself, saying something like "Now, if this were a detective novel/whodunit/spy story/thriller/etc., then the hero would do such and such, but in the real world things are different, so the hard way to do it is ... , and that's exactly what XYZ did ... ".
So I don't dispute that this book is the real thing, and that real events just don't develop as in a page-turner but consist mostly of drudgery, of sifting through interminable lists, etc., but if I want to know about the real thing, then I read about the real thing, and not fictive characters involved in fictive ops.
I don't doubt for a moment that the tome is entertainig to intelligence buffs, but I'm not one of them (I mean, up to a point I like to read about codes, spies' bios, Intelligence Agencies' stories and so forth, but from books referring to the actual thing). Moreover, this particular story isn't totally realistic either, but has its own unbelievably efficient and tough Mossad agent, which is scarcely credible precisely because in real life agents are stupid like you and me (alright, only me).
And to top everything off nicely, the really important event that constitutes the book's denouement comes as a surprise, an afterthought, since the story's backbone is about another thing entirely for maybe nine-tenths of its length.
To conclude, this is the last thing I'll read from this author, at least as fiction (it suddendly occurrs to me as I'm writing the review that this type of narrative is really a branch of the historical novel genre; but if you've read, say, "Sunne in Splendour" or "The Golden Warrior", you'll understand the difference between a masterpiece and a run-of-the-mill product).
Reviewer John writes "I kept having to remind myself that I am reading fiction, because this novel is so authentic ... ". He's totally right, and that's the trouble. For a thriller, this is (IMO, of course) very, very boring: I think half the space is taken up by remarks or thoughts of one character on another, or the author himself, saying something like "Now, if this were a detective novel/whodunit/spy story/thriller/etc., then the hero would do such and such, but in the real world things are different, so the hard way to do it is ... , and that's exactly what XYZ did ... ".
So I don't dispute that this book is the real thing, and that real events just don't develop as in a page-turner but consist mostly of drudgery, of sifting through interminable lists, etc., but if I want to know about the real thing, then I read about the real thing, and not fictive characters involved in fictive ops.
I don't doubt for a moment that the tome is entertainig to intelligence buffs, but I'm not one of them (I mean, up to a point I like to read about codes, spies' bios, Intelligence Agencies' stories and so forth, but from books referring to the actual thing). Moreover, this particular story isn't totally realistic either, but has its own unbelievably efficient and tough Mossad agent, which is scarcely credible precisely because in real life agents are stupid like you and me (alright, only me).
And to top everything off nicely, the really important event that constitutes the book's denouement comes as a surprise, an afterthought, since the story's backbone is about another thing entirely for maybe nine-tenths of its length.
To conclude, this is the last thing I'll read from this author, at least as fiction (it suddendly occurrs to me as I'm writing the review that this type of narrative is really a branch of the historical novel genre; but if you've read, say, "Sunne in Splendour" or "The Golden Warrior", you'll understand the difference between a masterpiece and a run-of-the-mill product).
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