Damascus Station: Unmissable New Spy Thriller From Former CIA Officer (Damascus Station, 1)

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One can almost smell the cardamom and jasmine in the stalls of the souk in the old city of Damascus and hear the prayers emanating from the Umayyad Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam. A volatile mix of traditional espionage plotlines intertwined with a modern level of action and violence that had me flipping pages until the early morning hours. However, what is clear from this novel is that McCloskey has been there, done it and a whole lot more. From the horrors of supporting a regime you do not believe in to voluntarily becoming a spy is quite terrifying.

The tension builds as we meet a cross-section of Syrian society, the impoverished, the falsely accused, the torturers themselves who pull out fingernails, then go home from work to play with their children. Summary: A CIA recruiter is tasked with recruiting a Syrian women with ties to the West to help find an American CIA agent being held is a Syrian torture chamber. But despite the challenges and imposition—and, yes, the failed marriages, occasional alcohol dependence, and other personal occupational hazards—there is an incredible feeling of power. What makes McCloskey’s book all the stronger is his attention to the details of the Syrian War and the complexities and nuances of the Assad family and its inner circle.You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs.

They pose as a couple to target Vadim, Putin’s private banker, and his wife, Anna, who―unbeknownst to CIA―is a Russian intelligence officer under deep cover at the bank. I am shocked the CIA’s Publication Review Board allowed David McCloskey’s Damascus Station to see the light of day. This time he pokes fun at the literary community: The whodunit takes place at a literary festival whose attendees include one Anthony Horowitz. But the Syrians see themselves as fighting for survival; it takes Val’s death to force the realization among the Americans that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is willing to break the unspoken rules of the game. Overly kind, says McCloskey, who describes himself as a student of some of the stars of the genre— John LeCarre , David Ignatius and, more recently, Jason Matthews , the author of Red Sparrow, who died in April and who was also a former CIA officer.

Assad’s violence was meted out by his intelligence services, the Mukhabarat, and the Shabiha (or “ghosts”) state-sponsored militias. I lived this extraordinarily frustrating episode in Agency history, and I could not put this book down.

For an authentic representation of what it's like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station. Inspired by the Arab Spring elsewhere in the Middle East, young Syrians took to the street asking “why not us? Crespi, but this is the one with dishes like spaghetti all’Arrabbiata to savor on nearly every page, adding to the book’s considerable pleasure. Damascus Station is a breathless ride; the best laid plans sometimes come tumbling down and brinkmanship can lead to miscalculations on both sides.By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

Douglas London is a professor of intelligence studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute.

The characters they immediately drew me in and kept me interested and very intrigued throughout the entire book! David Petraeus, who served as CIA director for a time, and who gushes i n a pre-publication blurb that Damascus Station “is the best spy novel I have ever read. If you pick up this book, you’ll find out soon enough as it’s unlikely you’ll be able to put it down.