The Counterfeit Agent Audiobook CD – Audiobook Author: Visit Amazon's Alex Berenson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1611762405 | Format: PDF
The Counterfeit Agent Audiobook CD – Audiobook Description
From Booklist
Readers’ satisfaction with Berenson’s latest John Wells thriller will depend on how comfortable they are with an open-ended, cliff-hanger ending. An eccentric billionaire is hoping to incite a war between the U.S. and Iran, and the new leaders at the CIA seem to be taking the bait. Former CIA director (now senator) Vinnie Duto and agency analyst Ellis Shafer (now on the outs with management) suspect a scam and engage freelance agent Wells—off the books, of course—to figure out what’s going on. The trail leads first to Mexico and then to Hong Kong and Istanbul, where Wells is captured by a renegade former CIA agent who, together with a mysterious woman, is running the operation. As in the previous installments in this suspense-filled series, Berenson ratchets the tension ever higher, combining plenty of vividly detailed bloodletting with a fascinating look at geopolitics and the self-serving quagmire of governmental bureaucracy. Wells stands outside all that, a Rambo with a brain who can’t resist the call to action. The clock is ticking loudly this time, though, and fans will have to wait until the next book to see if Wells saves the world one more time. --Bill Ott
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
A genuine talent The Sunday Times Ingenious New York Times Gritty and fast-moving Observer One of the best new spy writers Sun
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- Series: A John Wells Novel (Book 8)
- Audio CD
- Publisher: Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (February 11, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1611762405
- ISBN-13: 978-1611762402
- Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
I started this series with the first entry, "The Faithful Spy", and have read each new entry as soon as released (in fact, some even earlier, with advance reviewer copies through the Vine program, such as this book).
I welcomed Berenson as a talented new voice in the genre, and thoroughly enjoyed each of his books, right up until last year's release, "The Night Ranger", which I considered a major misstep (you can read my entire review of that book there).
With this new entry, Berenson returns protagonist John Wells back to what he does best - international espionage dealing with events of major cataclysmic potential - but somehow, some of the mojo seems to be gone.
The plot centers on a shadowy operative who goes by the nom du guerre of Salome. At the behest of her mysterious masters she's acquired a chunk of weapons-grade enriched uranium, and recruited a cadre of minions to put her plan into action, that plan being to sow international discord and panicked response to the threat of nuclear blackmail supposedly being enacted by Iran.
Wells, now in retirement and living with his girlfriend, is recruited into action by his old boss and friend Ellis Schaeffer to delve into the threat, try to verify or debunk it, and then deal with the people behind it. Wells follows the clues to where they lead him around the world as the body count ratchets up.
All well and good as far as it goes, but the tension just never seems to ratchet up to match the scale of the threat. A matter of pacing, and lack of focus, in my opinion.
There's the leisurely "now you see it, now you don't" issue of Wells's disintegrating relationship with his girlfriend. It pops up at the oddest moments for a paragraph or two, then vanishes again.
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