The Intercept by Dick Wolf

Jeremy Fisk is a detective in the NYPD, on special assignment with the Joint Terrorism Task Force or JTTF. JTTF is a joint operation consisting of most of the government agencies involved in foiling plots against the United States. It has been live since 09/11 and is concentrated in NYC because everyone thinks NYC is Al-Queda’s main target. And this is how we are introduced to Jeremy Fisk in Dick Wolf’s literary debut, The Intercept. Many of you are familiar with Wolf as the creator of all the ‘Law & Order‘ programs on TV.

Initially, Jeremy and the task force stop a plot by one terrorist to set off a bomb in a NY subway. On his team is Krina Gersten, also a NYC police officer with some special skills that Fisk feels will aid his team. It is now several years later and events are breaking fast because of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

Bin Laden has been killed and the various agencies are trying to examine all the data that may have been hidden in his residence. Some of the computer experts discover what may be messages hidden in innocent looking pictures. The science of finding these messages is called Steganography. Now it becomes a race to decipher the hidden messages and perhaps prevent a new and larger attack.

An event aboard a SAS jet bound for NYC sets the team in motion. A single terrorist is foiled in his attempt to bring down the jet. The passengers and stewardess who helped stop the terrorist are being treated as celebrities in NYC, as well they should be. However, something doesn’t sit right with Fisk. The foiled incident was too easy and Fisk is sure that another passenger on the plane has bigger plans for NYC. He convinces the team that they must locate another passenger who has disappeared off the ‘grid.’

This fast paced novel created out of today’s headlines will keep your attention. Please enjoy The Intercept by Dick Wolf.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

It’s the autumn of 1938. France is almost completely surrounded by fascist dictatorships and a Germany governed by NSDAP. The hounds of all-out war have not yet been unleashed, but Germany is waging political warfare against France. The Germans have allied themselves with French right-wingers who abhor and want to destroy democracy in the country, and who wish to replace it with an authoritarian government that will rid France of socialists, communists, and labor unions once and for all.

And now Frederic Stahl, a Hollywood star born in Vienna, Austria, with a Slovene father, sits in his Parisian hotel room. He’s in France to make a movie, loaned out by Warner Bros., and in the newspaper Le Matin he reads, “Hollywood Star Frederic Stahl Speaks Out for Rapprochement.” The quotes in the article are not inaccurate per se, but they are presented in a way that turns Stahl into something he is not. Forces he wants nothing to do with are using his name and public image to promote their ideas; they have him speak out against French re-armament and preparation for war.

Being a famous and important person from a powerful part of the world, people will listen to Stahl and perhaps even change their minds when they hear him share his opinions. He is an agent of sorts, an agent of influence. Stahl understands this and wants to do “something, anything, even a small thing,” to fight back, and he becomes part of an informal espionage service run out of the American embassy in Paris.

When the actor arrives in Berlin for a film festival, his worst fears are confirmed as Kristallnacht breaks out and destroys tens of thousands of Jewish lives – soon enough Frederic Stahl’s own life is in danger.

Like so many of Alan Furst’s heroes, Frederic Stahl is (to use a phrase from the novel) “a warm man in a cold world,” and in a time of fear and resignation he takes a stance for what he believes in – a world where dialogue and not violence shapes societies. Mission to Paris takes place just before World War II, but it has distinct contemporary resonance, and the novel asks the reader, “What do you want to do?”

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

See previous blog posts of other Alan Furst titles, Red Gold and Dark Star.

The Double Game by Dan Fesperman

The time has arrived when we can do a more balanced review of the spy activities of the United States and it’s enemies, post-WWII. And Dan Fesperman is up to the task in his latest thriller The Double Game, the perfect mixture of fact and fiction. Journalist Bill Cage wants to know about master spy Edwin Lemaster who turned into a master writer of spy novels after he left ” The Company”. Since his interview of Lemaster, years ago, he is more intrigued than ever. Bill’s Dad, Warfield, worked for the State department and during his years of service came in contact with people working for the CIA.

As a child, Bill read all the best spy novels which his Dad had accumulated, and he knew them backwards and forwards. John Le Carre, Len Deighton, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming. But now someone seems to be sending Bill cryptic notes that reference some of these books and the time period when he was growing up in Berlin. Is someone playing a game with Cage or are these clues supposed to lead him to some answers about the “spy game”? One thing he knows almost immediately is that the clues seem to be pulling him back to Vienna, where his Dad still lives.

So off he goes in search of some answers to these clues. One of the first persons he sees in Vienna is his first love, Litzi Strauss. Remember, it is now 37 years later, but he has never lost his infatuation with Litzi. But things are getting more complicated as Bill tries to figure where Litzi figures in all this intrigue and his Dad is petrified that Bill is about to involve himself in some very bad things.

For the lover of spy novels, Fesperman has found the perfect blend of old and new, cold war intrigue and buried secrets. It’s the perfect mixture for all you fans of foreign intrigue. With one additional feature–Fesperman has also included just the right mixture of mystery and humor.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

Shake Off by Mischa Hiller

This is an international thriller with a different perspective. Michel Khoury is an intelligence operative looking for peace in the Middle East but he is not your typical agent. He was not brought up in the West. His family was killed with a lot of other Christian and Arab Palestinians in Lebanon and his trainers were Russian. His handler, Abu Leila, also comes from a similar background as Michel. This story is not, however, a story of East versus West but a story of secretive agents working for some sort of true detente in the Middle East.

Michel’s major talent is the ease with which he learns languages.He has handled many assignments for Abu Leila , where his language skills helped him move freely between England, Germany(both East and West), and Russia. But now his life is about to become more complicated. He meets Helen, the first young woman who truly pulls at his heart strings. How can he balance his operative assignment and still have a normal relationship with a woman? The balancing act requires more than Michel has anticipated and now he may have endangered Helen’s life.

Agents from Israel seem to have materialized in London and are shadowing Michel. Michel and Helen’s lives may be in danger. The pace of the story which for awhile had been leisurely is now about to reach full speed. How will Michel protect himself and Helen? Mischa Hiller’s second book shows his knowledge of world affairs and he presents a different slant on the problems that have plagued the Middle East since 1948.

Find and request this book in our catalog.

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow

After his father died, Stewart Dubinsky found a batch of papers that related to things about his father that Stewart had never known. So Stewart sets out to find out his father’s story in an effort to know him better. This premise sounds so familiar you might think that the book would be boring or formulaic, but that is far from the truth. The secret that Stewart’s father, David, was hiding is that he was court martialed and sentenced to prison in 1945 after serving in Europe for more than a year. Stewart is so shocked by this revelation that he is determined to find the whole story.

David was a lawyer serving in the Army’s judge advocate general office during the army’s march across Europe after D-Day. He spent most of his time prosecuting or defending soldiers accused of crimes against French citizens; but in 1944 he was assigned to the case of Robert Martin, an OSS officer who had either become a spy or gone rogue. When David met Martin he became involved in one of Martin’s covert operations. He also became involved with Martin’s companion Gita, a woman who may or may not have still been Martin’s lover. Shortly after that, Martin and Gita both disappeared.

After the German surrender, Martin was finally recaptured and David was sent to bring him to trial. Instead, Martin disappeared again David was accused of letting Martin go. Shortly after his conviction, though, David is released without serving any time. Why would they suddenly drop all charges? This is the mystery Stewart is searching for the answer to, as well as the question of whether his father released the man he spent so much time searching for and if so, why.

The story of Stewart’s father’s service in WWII is a fascinating one. He becomes involved in the Battle of the Bulge and other fighting simply because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is privy to some of the secrets of OSS and not to others. Turow’s novel is very different from his usual courtroom thrillers, but it is just as compelling. Even more interesting to me is the fact that many episodes of the book were based on stories Turow heard from his own father, who served as a medic in WWII.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

This debut novel opens with a woman standing in a park in the rain at night surrounded by dead bodies wearing latex gloves — and she has no memory of who she is. She finds a letter in her pocket which begins “The body you are wearing used to be mine.” How can you resist an opening scene like that one? I certainly couldn’t when I discovered this book just after it came out earlier this year. I’ve since recommended it to several co-workers and friends and now I’m passing this great book on to you.

The woman with amnesia in the park is Myfanwy Thomas (pronounced like Tiffany), and it turns out that she is an agent for Her Majesty’s Supernatural Secret Service. The operative words there are ‘supernatural’ and ‘secret’ because the stuff this agency deals with is way out there beyond just vampires and werewolves — and it is very, very secret. Her position is called a Rook, and it turns out the agency, called the Checquy, is based on the pieces in the game of chess (yeah, it’s as complicated as it sounds).

The letter Myfanwy found directs her to an apartment where there is a warm shower, clean clothes and a comfy bed. Further letters explain who she is, more about her super secret job, and the fact that someone within the Checquy is a traitor and trying to kill her. One of the letters also lets her know that she has a choice, she can try to resume her dangerous life in a secret government organization, or she can simply walk away and flee the country with a vast sum of money in a secret bank account.

Myfanwy decides to stay and try to determine who the traitor is. But, she must do this while re-learning everything about herself and the Checquy. She doesn’t even remember how she takes her tea, let alone all of the inner workings of this very strange agency. She also soon discovers that many of the agents working for the Checquy, including herself, have special abilities (think of the mutants from the X-Men). Her work-mates include one person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter anyone’s dreams, a man whose skin oozes toxins depending on his mood, and the most attractive vampire one can imagine.  So, yeah, dealing with a house full of sentient purple slime is all in a day’s work for Rook Thomas.

Daniel O’Malley has written one heck of a debut novel that is full of wit as well as suspense and fantastic supernatural action. There’s so much more to this novel than I was able to describe in this blog post! Even if you’re not normally a “Fantasy reader” but you enjoy a good suspense and espionage story, give this one a try. And, if you are a Fantasy reader, what are you waiting for? Click that link below and get reading! It’s also available as an audio book, read by Susan Duerden.

Find and reserve this new book in our catalog.

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon  is back…one of  literature’s most popular international agents. Some have compared him to Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Allon is not on assignment with Israeli intelligence at present and is in fact rumored  to be retired.  He and his wife, Chiara are living in a small house on the coast of England. He has returned to his first love, the restoration of works of art.

World events, however, are not going to let him stay in his peaceful surroundings. Explosions in Paris and Copenhagen announce the return of Islamic fanatics and there is now fear that London is next. Chiara and Gabriel return to London and are entering Covent Gardens when Gabe notices a very suspicious person bearing all the telltale signs of a bomber. Allon is armed and is ready to follow his suspicions and take down the bomber, but before he can shoot the man, he is taken down by English agents just as the bomb goes off. Gabe is brought to Scotland Yard and after he proves who he is, he is released and warned in no uncertain terms that he is to do nothing about the incident.

But you and I know that is something that Gabriel Allon will never obey!!
Back in his house in the English countryside, he is visited by the head of Israeli intelligence, Uzi  Navot.  Gabe is being asked to report to Adrian Carter , one of the CIA’s highest intelligence agents. He is going to be given intel on who the United States  believes is behind the bombings — one  Rashid al-Husseini. The embarrassment of the entire situation is that the US trained Rashid to work with our government to infiltrate Al-Quada…not very successful.

A team is to be assembled in Washington that will combine their talents in trying to bring down this latest threat. I am not at liberty to  give you more of the plot for fear of taking away your fun in reading Daniel Silva’s latest international thriller !!

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

The Information Officer by Mark Mills

A little known fact:  The island of Malta was the most bombed piece of land during all of WWII. Malta’s position in the Mediterranean made it an important refueling spot for the Allied shipping and it was continually under attack from Germany and Italy because of this. The island was still a British territory in the 1940’s, but the islanders also had close ties with Italy.

Max Chadwick is the British Information Officer for Malta.  His job is to filter the news coming into the island so that the local population will continue to support the British side in the war.   Britain had already rounded up islanders that it believed to be loyal to Italy and interred them in Africa, which did not help relations with the locals. When Max discovers the murder of a local woman he is concerned about the islanders’ reactions.  Then he discovers evidence that another British officer may have committed the crime, and that the murder may only be one in a string of similar crimes.  Max knows that this information could seriously damage support for the British war effort, so he sets out to find the killer on his own. His unique position makes him ideal for the investigation since he knows most of the British officers and families stationed there.  However, the situation is getting critical.  The island is being regularly bombarded and the threat of German invasion is also rising.

The atmosphere and setting of this book were incredibly detailed.  I felt like I could see the island shrouded in fog and dark, with shadows creeping around old stone passages.  In, fact, I think it would make an excellent movie.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Raymond Chandler or Alan Furst.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

Paranoia by Joseph Finder

Adam Cassidy is a semi-techie at Wyatt Communications when he pulls a stunt that could land him in prison for 20 years. He hacks into his company’s security system to free up funds for a retirement party for Jonesie, one of the men working on the loading dock. Adam is caught by Wyatt’s security people and he is brought before CEO Nick Wyatt. But instead of turning him into the police, he is offered a proposition. And so starts Joseph Finder’s fast paced thriller.

Here’s the deal — Adam is going to be given a resume and short term training in espionage. In exchange for this he will attempt to get a job at Trion Systems. If successful, he is supposed to find out as much as he can about a secret project named ‘Aurora’ . Wyatt knows that whatever this project is, it has the potential of knocking Wyatt Communications out of the high tech field… or at least causing severe damage.

Cassidy realizes he has no choice and he follows instructions. He lands the job and he begins his indoctrination with Trion. He must now do his assigned job at Trion while figuring out how to secure the information for Wyatt. Adam is not stupid, he just has never really been asked to apply himself. He has always enjoyed the role of ‘slacker’ . Even if he successful he could face prison as a spy for Wyatt or as an embezzler against Wyatt.  It’s not quite a ‘win-win’ situation.

Finder never lets you catch your breath. The pace is frantic and you will enjoy all the twists and turns in this great read.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

The Second Objective by Mark Frost

Mark Frost’s novel is a thriller based on true events that happened during World War II.  The Nazi’s are determined to strike a huge blow against the Allies in a last ditch attempt to reverse their declining fortunes.  To facilitate this attack they have devised the rather ingenious idea of rounding up their best English speaking soldiers and training them to impersonate Americans.  They then send them into Allied territory ahead of the main attack where they are to disrupt the Allied response when the full attack begins.  This was their first objective and the one to which the majority of their soldiers were assigned.  The second, secret objective was to carry on to Allied headquarters and assassinate General Eisenhower while still impersonating American soldiers.  Of the twenty soldiers assigned to this second objective, eighteen were killed or captured.  Two were never found.  These are the facts.

Frost’s fictionalized story follows the soldiers tasked with killing Eisenhower.  The kicker here is that one of these men, Bernie Oster, was born in the U.S. to German parents and raised in Brooklyn.  His family moved back to Germany when he was fourteen. The bleak economics of the Depression in the United States forced this move.  Bernie was eventually drafted into the Nazi army.  Bernie detests the Nazis and has tried to thwart their efforts whenever he has a chance to do so without getting caught.

When Bernie is brought into “Operation Greif” he falls under the immediate command of Erich Von Leinsdorf.  Von Leinsdorf is a member of the SS.  The son of a diplomat, he was raised in London from the age of ten until the war broke out.  His English, spoken with a British accent, is flawless.  He is very smooth and friendly on the surface, but Bernie senses that beneath this facade lurks a stone-cold killer.

As the Germans begin the invasion, Von Leinsdorf reveals his true nature by shooting two of his men after they are wounded by the Americans.  With his worst fears confirmed, Bernie is on high alert.  He suspects there is more to their mission than what they have been told and repeatedly tries to get Von Leinsdorf to reveal it to him.  In the meantime, Bernie does what he can to secretly sabotage Operation Greif’s efforts without getting himself killed by Von Leinsdorf.  He leaves subtle clues as he and Von Leinsdorf become aware that two American MP’s are tracking them down.

As the war continues around them, Bernie and Von Leinsdorf proceed on to their second objective with MP’s in hot pursuit.  The story continues at a hot pace straight through with the accelerator being mashed to the floor in the last few chapters.  If World War II historical fiction or fast-paced thrillers are your style, Frost’s novel is sure to satisfy.

Find and reserve this book in our online catalog.