The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer Minotaur Books, $26.99, 408 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-03613-1 The Middle East and North Africa has been the focus of the world’s attention since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2010, and now, the Syrian War has bled over into neighboring countries and spawned one of the most savage, retrograde and degenerate groups of terrorists to ever come along. It’s name is ISIS and
A Nasty Piece of Work by Robert Littell Thomas Dunne Books/St Martins Press, $24.99, 259 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-02145-8 When one of the best and most well-known living writers of espionage spy thrillers turns his hand to crime fiction, you bet we’re going to pay attention here at the Mysterious Book Report. Robert Littell, author of blockbuster novels like The Company, Legends and The Stalin Epigram, has turned his hand
Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler Mysterious Press, $25.00, 369 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2155-4 The Great War, or World War One, as it’s now known, has long been an area of interest to me. My Grandfather on my Father’s side of the family fought in it. The Great War was the first mechanized war and the effects were both brutal and horrific. The Ottoman Turk empire collapsed; the Brits
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews Scribner, $26.99, 434 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-0612-2 Move over John LeCarre and Ian Fleming. Take a seat Graham Green, John Gardner and Vince Flynn . . . there’s a new spy novel sheriff in town and he’s packing plenty of talent, byzantine plotting and exquisite details based on thirty-three years of experience collecting clandestine intelligence in “denied-access” areas of the world with the CIA. Red
The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry Mysterious Press-Grove/Atlantic, Inc., $26.00, 292 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2127-1 Here’s a true confession: I have been fascinated by spies, espionage and tradecraft ever since the 1950’s when I read that first issue of Mad Magazine and was introduced to the iconic Spy vs Spy cartoon strip with it’s two identical antagonists, battling to a constant and eternal draw. From then on, I have read
Extinction by Mark Alpert Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, $25.99, 373 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-02134-2 Ever heard about something called the Singularity? It’s an interesting noun with a couple of different meanings. First, according to my Oxford English Language Dictionary, there’s the general definition: The state or condition of being singular. Then there’s the math & physics usage: The point at which something becomes infinite. The third, and for
Blood of Victory by Alan Furst Random House, 2002, $24.95, 237 pages, ISBN 978-0-375-50574-1 It’s an undisputed fact that the Twentieth Century was the absolute bloodiest in human history. The Twentieth opened up with the Boer War, in which the British Empire asserted its sovereignty over South Africa at the expense of the white Afrikaans settlers and their German allies. In rapid succession came World War I, “the Great
Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva Harper, $26.99, 448 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-207218-4 We’re reviewing a thriller by one of the big-guns in MBR number 40. The book is Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva. Daniel Silva is hands down, the best international thriller and spy novelist writer in the genre today. If you liked Ian Fleming, John LeCarre, or Robert Ludlum at the top of their game,