Espionage in Print

September 3, 2010

Baldacci, David. DELIVER US FROM EVIL. Grand Central. May '10. $27.99. "Evan Waller is a monster. He has built a fortune from his willingness to buy and sell anything...and anyone. In search of new opportunities, Waller has just begun a new business venture: one that could lead to millions of deaths all over the globe. On Waller's trail is Shaw, the mysterious operative from THE WHOLE TRUTH, who must prevent Waller from closing his latest deal. Shaw's one chance to bring him down will come in the most unlikely of places: a serene, bucolic village in Provence. But Waller's depravity and ruthlessness go deeper than Shaw knows. And now, there is someone else pursuing Waller in Provence - Reggie Campion, an agent for a secret vigilante group headquartered in a musty old English estate - and she has an agenda of her own. Hunting the same man and unaware of each other's mission, Shaw and Reggie will be caught in a deadly duel of nerve and wits. Hitchcockian in its intimate buildup of suspense and filled with the remarkable characters, breathtaking plot turns, and blockbuster finale that are David Baldacci's hallmarks, DELIVER US FROM EVIL will be one of the most gripping thrillers of the year."

D'Amato, Barbara; Dams, Jeanne M.; & Zubro, Mark. FOOLPROOF. Forge Books. January '10. $24.99. "The morning of 9/11 Brenda Grant and Daniel Henderson met for coffee before going to their software firm in the World Trade Center. That casual act saved them from the Twin Towers' collapse, even as their friends and Brenda's fiance were killed and their company obliterated. Founding their own software security firm, they never forgot that morning of horror. Grant and Henderson then establish a clandestine division inside their company committed to covertly tracking down global terrorists. In a search involving Washington DC, Egypt, Italy and Turkey, they expose a plot to hijack a US presidential election, rig voting machines, and topple democracies worldwide."

Dick, Daniel. THE DAMASCUS LETTER: A Spy Novel. Black Diamond. February '10. $14.99. "A compelling, modern-day American hero leads the way in this intense international thriller by debut author Daniel Dick. Akil Hassan was the CIA's top agent inside the Middle East, a natural destined for an illustrious career, until he broke the Agency's rules. Cast out, his dreams shattered, he's now being offered a second chance. What he doesn't realize is that his life is about to be turned upside down, because tomorrow morning a terrorist is going to unleash a group of suicide bombers on New York City killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including a member of Akil's own family. But the bloodshed, as bad as it is going to be, is nothing compared to what's coming next. Intelligence out of Baghdad indicates a far deadlier attack is in the works, one involving the highest levels of the Iranian Government. In order to stop it, in order to save tens of thousands of lives, Akil will have to risk everything by breaking the Agency's rules all over again. And this time there will be no second chances. One man. One chance. Everything to lose."

Ghelfi, Brent. THE VENONA CABLE: A Thriller. Picador. September '10. $14.00. Third in the series. "The past erupts into the present when the police arrest Alexei Volkovoy, known as Volk, at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and take him to a murder scene. At first, the dead man appears to be just one more victim of Moscow's out-of-control violence. But Volk soon discovers that he is a famous Hollywood filmmaker whose reputation was destroyed in 1995 when the CIA released decrypted documents from the Venona cables - the top-secret American and British crypto-analysis of Soviet messages that implicated the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, Kim Philby, and hundreds of other Soviet spies. Tucked inside the American's pocket is a marked-up Venona intercept that refers to a Russian used as a spy by the Americans, a man who may have been Volk's illustrious father. Aided by his female partner, Valya, Volk's only hope to clear his family name will be to solve this murder and discover how the Venona papers relate to his father's disappearance, while powerful forces want to keep him from investigating the past and to remove him from the present...."

Gilstrap, John. HOSTAGE ZERO. Pinnacle Books. July '10. $6.99. "In this riveting new thriller, New York Times bestselling author John Gilstrap reveals a clandestine world where the stakes are high, the players are corrupt, and a treacherous secret is about to explode... Hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave is used to going where even the government won't. An innocent man has been shot and two young people are missing. But tracking them down is just the beginning. To keep them and his covert team alive, Jonathan must plunge into the heart of an ugly secret that reaches into the highest corridors of power - and he must defeat enemies who are willing to kill again and again to keep the truth from being revealed..."

Gresham, Jack. 18 BILLION. Synergy Books. January '10. $14.95. Mohammed of Babylon - Book One. "In Washington, D.C., a cell of Afghan terrorists - armed with a nuclear weapon - conspire to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of New York of 18 billion dollars. They plan to fund and curry favor with Mohammed of Babylon, an international negotiator and proponent of peaceful jihad who is rumored to be the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam. Mohammed, shocked to find himself the center of religious extremism, attempts to right the wrong done to the United States without betraying the trust of his people. Meanwhile, the government's investigation into the terrorist cell behind the threat uncovers a more frightening plot. An international corporation called Global Consultant Ltd. appears to be funding and manufacturing global terrorism for their own purposes. The corporation, driven by greed rather than ideology, has the feds wondering how far their influence reaches and what it will take to counter the terrorism already set in motion."

Harris, Robert. CONSPIRATA: A Novel of Ancient Rome. Simon & Schuster. February '10. $26.00. "On the eve of Marcus Cicero's inauguration as consul of Rome, the grisly death of a boy sends ripples of fear through a city already wracked by civil unrest, crime, and debauchery of every kind. Felled by a hammer, his throat slit and his organs removed, the young slave appears to have been offered as a human sacrifice, forbidden as an abomination in the Roman Republic. For Cicero, the ill forebodings of this hideous murder only increase his frustrations and the dangers he already faces as Rome's leader: elected by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival camps, the patricians and populists. Caught in a political shell game that leaves him forever putting out fires only to have them ignite elsewhere, Cicero plays both for the future of the republic and his very life. There is a plot to assassinate Cicero, abetted by a rising young star of the Roman senate named Gaius Julius Caesar - and it will take all the embattled consul's wit, strength, and force of will to stop it and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship. In this second novel of his Roman trilogy, following the bestselling IMPERIUM, Robert Harris once again weaves a compelling and historically accurate tale of intrigue told in the wise and compassionate voice of Cicero's slave and private secretary, Tiro. In the manner of I, CLAUDIUS, Harris vividly evokes ancient Rome and its politics for today's readers, documenting a world not unlike our own - where the impulse toward dominance competes with the risk of overreach, where high-minded ideals can be a liability, and where someone is always waiting in the wings for a chance to set the world on fire." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Simon & Schuster Audio. Available in paperback. Pocket Books. March '11. $15.00.

Lynds, Gayle. THE BOOK OF SPIES. St. Martin's Press. April '10. $25.99. "For centuries, emperors, historians, and even the Vatican have tried to locate Ivan the Terrible's magnificent Library of Gold - a long-missing archive containing gold-covered, bejeweled books dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Now one of the volumes, The Book of Spies, has surfaced, and along with it the highly secret book club that owns the Library of Gold. They form a cabal of the globe's most powerful men - men who will do anything to achieve their aims and protect their interests. When the CIA discovers a connection between the legendary library and a bank account linked to terrorists, they turn to rare books curator Eva Blake for help. Soon an attempt is made on Eva's life. Determined not only to survive but to uncover the truth, Eva turns to the only person she can trust - Judd Ryder, a former intelligence agent with his own agenda and a troubled past. Together, Judd and Eva embark on an international adventure from London to Rome, Istanbul, and Athens. Somehow they must do what no one else has been able to do - find the library and stay alive."

Morrison, Boyd. THE ARK: A Novel. Touchstone Books. May '10. $24.99. "When brilliant archaeologist Dilara Kenner is contacted by Sam Watson, an old family friend who says that he has crucial information about her missing father, Dilara abandons her Peruvian dig and rushes to Los Angeles to meet him. But at the airport, Sam speaks instead of Noah's Ark - the artifact her father had long been searching for - and the possible death of billions. Before Sam can explain, he collapses. With his dying breath, he urges Dilara to find Tyler Locke - a man she's never heard of. Two days later Dilara manages to track down former combat engineer Tyler Locke on an oil rig off Newfoundland. Her helicopter transport goes down well short of the oil rig's landing pad and Dilara and those aboard nearly drown. No sooner is Dilara safely on the rig than she convinces Tyler the crash was no accident. Tyler agrees to help her uncover the secret behind Noah's Ark and, more important, her father's disappearance. As the picture begins to come into focus, they realize they have just seven days to find the Ark before its secret is used to wipe out civilization once again. With a chilling premise and a blistering pace, Boyd Morrison combines all the best elements of a blockbuster thriller with an intelligent and fascinating exploration of one of the Old Testament's great mysteries." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Simon & Schuster Audio.

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