Amateur Spy [Hardcover]

War correspondent Fesperman, the winner of the CWA's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award, shines the light of his insider's knowledge into the dark corners of Jordan and Jerusalem in his gripping fifth thriller. After a career as an aid worker in some of the world's hot spots, 55-year-old Freeman Lockhart has retired with his 37-year-old Bosnian wife, Mila, to the Aegean island of Karos. The first night in their new home they wake to find three intruders, who spirit Freeman away to a nearby location where he's ordered to fly to Jordan to spy on a former friend and co-worker, Omar al-Baroody. When Freeman declines, his captors tell him that if he doesn't do what they ask, they'll tell the world his dark secret involving Mila from their days working in Africa. Freeman heads off to Amman to do their bidding. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a wealthy doctor, Abbas Rahim, plots an act of terrorism that will threaten the lives of the government's highest power brokers. Freeman may be an amateur spy, but Fesperman (The Prisoner of Guantánamo) proves once again that he's a consummate professional. Author tour.(Mar.)
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'Dan Fesperman's novels always offer interesting and thought-provoking commentary on contemporary world events and in The Amateur Spy he tackles Middle East terrorism with a story that contains a disquietingly topical element...A fine thriller to add to his impressive body of work' -- Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph 20070729 'A gritty verisimilitude against a subtle political backdrop. The scene-setting is vivid and dramatic. Mr Fesperman is especially good on the murky frontier where journalists, aid-workers and spies trade information...He is honing the genre of intelligent political thrillers. Foreign correspondents should note: they now have some new standards to match.' -- Economist 20070830 'It goes without saying that Fesperman is a master of orchestrating tension - but he is equally good at characterising his vulnerable, conflicted protagonists' -- Daily Express 20070730 'Fesperman taps another timely issue in his fourth topical thriller...a superb job' -- Publishers Weekly 20060501 'Fascinating ... a thought-provoking and exciting read' -- Observer on THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO 20060716 'An absorbing novel with some provocative commentary on America's war on terror' -- Susannah Yager, Sunday Telegraph on THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO 20060723 'A neat sense of conspiratorial tension...Fesperman's use of spy tradecraft is good - even creative - and never more elaborate than the situation calls for' -- Washington Post on THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO 20060716 'A superb spy thriller worthy of sharing shelf space with the novels of John le Carre and Ken Follett...darkly imaginative...draws a dramatic portrait' -- USA Today on THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO 20060712 'A terrific novel of intrigue, duplicity and death in the shadow of the Khyber Pass...Fesperman is that rare journalist who is also a gifted novelist...first-rate' -- Washington Post on THE WARLORD'S SON 20060712 'One of the best writers of intelligent thrillers based on contemporary events working today...observant, thoughtful, witty' -- Baltimore Sun on THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO 20060716 'A new book by Dan Fesperman is becoming a major literary event ... an utterly compelling thriller and quite simply the best I've read all year.' -- Sunday Telegraph on THE WARLORD'S SON 20060716 'Fesperman offers a level of cultural and political nuance not always found in adventure thrillers.' -- Booklist on THE WARLORD'S SON 20060716 'A first-rate geopolitical yarn ... Fesperman combines his strong eye for detail with bleak film-noir cynicism, managing to make plot twists that could have felt contrived seem depressingly believable.' -- Entertainment Weekly on THE WARLORD'S SON 20060716 'Dan Fesperman has written that rare thing: a fine and intelligent novel that makes you think, and keeps you turning the pages.' -- Val McDermid on THE SMALL BOAT OF GREAT SORROWS 20060716 'In THE WARLORD'S SON, Dan Fesperman, an American foreign correspondent who covered the war in Afghanistan, succeeds in writing a convincing, accurate thriller ... This book is worth reading if only for the passage where the hero, Skelly, glimpses Osama bin Laden at a public hanging; the scene both convinces and frightens.' -- The Economist on THE WARLORD'S SON 20060716