From Publishers Weekly
Set in the very near future, veteran Forsyth's latest isn't quite up to the level of
The Day of the Jackal or his more recent
Fist of God, but it's a cut above most other post-9/11 spy thrillers. The threat of a catastrophic assault on the West, discovered on a senior al-Qaeda member's computer, compels the leaders of the U.S. and the U.K. to attempt a desperate gambit—to substitute a seasoned British operative, Col. Mike Martin, for an Afghan Taliban commander being held prisoner at Guantánamo Bay and then arrange Martin's release into Afghan custody. Martin must maintain his cover under the closest scrutiny, even as the details of the planned outrage are kept beyond his reach. Despite the choice to have Porter Goss as CIA director at the end of 2006 and some nick-of-time Hollywood heroics, Forsyth convincingly conjures up the world of counterterrorism and offers an all-too plausible terrorist plot.
250,000 printing. (Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From AudioFile
Listening to THE AFGHAN is like watching a train wreck. You know it will be grotesque, that there will be bloodied bodies and hideous dismemberments, yet you can't help yourself. Frederick Forsyth has the ability to mesmerize with an insider's knowledge, and Robert Powell's reading is no less insistent. British and American intelligence learn that Al-Qaeda is planning something big. Will it be nuclear? Biological? No one is sure. Someone has to infiltrate, a nearly impossible task. Nearly. British intelligence officer Mike Martin (THE FIST OF GOD) is the man for the job. Powell's performance as an assortment of Brits, Americans, Arabs, Afghans, and Indians is flawless, and Forsyth's story of imminent disaster is irresistible. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.