The Handler Mysterious Book Report No. 491 by John Dwaine McKenna The Handler, (Penguin Random House, $27.00, 448 pages, ISBN  978-0-5934-4163-3), by M.P. Woodward, is written by a debut author whose real-life experiences as a Naval Intelligence Officer working with U.S. Special Forces, CIA and NSA clandestine operations through-out the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Far East, makes Mr. Woodward exquisitely well qualified to write about the covert doings