by Alex Berenson
I was unfamiliar with the author before but I will be reading his other works. Don't worry. This book is virtually stand alone. The reader can follow the story without having read previous installments. The author does judicious information dumps along the way to get the reader up to date and hopefully whet his appetite to read earlier books. So don't think that you can't read this book unless you've read the others. That is so not necessary. John Wells is an ex-CIA agent who is still in the game. A storm is on the way. Previously John Wells provided proof that the United States was being manipulated into war with Iran by rabid Zionist, casino billionaire mogul, dual Israeli-American citizen, and Presidential financial backer Aaron Duberman (think a barely fictionalized Sheldon Adelson).
Wells and a few CIA agents barely prevented a war against Iran based on lies enthusiastically created and spread by Duberman. Duberman viewed Iran as an intolerable threat to Israel. He wanted the United States to attack and invade Iran. Wells went after Duberman but wasn't able to get him. Duberman has fled to Israel where he feels he's untouchable.
When Duberman is forced to leave Israel thanks to American pressure, he flees with his children and supermodel Israeli wife to China, where he owns casinos and hotels in Hong Kong and Macao. Duberman also takes along a number of former IDF and/or Mossad operatives as bodyguards. Duberman knows Wells is coming for him. Duberman would like nothing more than to watch Wells die. Complicating matters Duberman's and Wells' feud has come to the attention of foreign intelligence agencies with their own interests and goals, most of which don't line up with those of the United States. Despite what he thinks, Duberman is not the biggest or meanest shark in the sea. Cash is not the only currency of power.
This was an exciting novel that delves into how men, women and nations use power and the costs of doing so. There's a fair bit of diplomatic and intelligence derring do. We see the difference between the high minded values that nations claim to follow and the dirty dark deviant deeds done which mock all decency. Although Duberman is the villain the author shows how a successful man can sell a little bit of his soul each year until he finds himself doing things he never thought he'd be capable of doing. Berenson humanizes Duberman while never letting you forget that the man is slimy. Wells is more of a cipher here than Duberman. Wells is a religious man. He is a Muslim, something that caused him problems in the reactionary CIA. Wells wants to take out Duberman but is otherwise losing his taste for violence, something that can be dangerous in his line of work. This book is just over 400 pages or so but it neither drags nor rushes.
