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

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McCloskey’s next book is another spy novel, centered on the next stage of the U.S.-Russia spy war: “It’s not a sequel to Damascus Station , but it’s in the same universe, so some characters will reappear.” David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst whose writing bears the stamp of authenticity, and the book has received much praise by former Agency personnel. It was a finalist for the International Thriller Writers’ Best First Novel Award in 2022. Narrator Andrew Wehrlen is described as having a strong, friendly and confident voice, and he uses it to make Sam Joseph a convincing American character. At the same time, he manages to create distinctive voices for the many Syrian characters as well. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? At heart, the novel is a love story pairing Sam Joseph, one of the Agency’s top recruiters of agents in “denied areas” such as Moscow (and now Damascus), with Mariam Haddad, a senior official in the Presidential Palace. The CIA dispatches Sam to Paris to recruit Mariam, where she is on a Syrian delegation to a conference. This follows Sam’s aborted attempt to exfiltrate the Agency’s top source in the Palace. (The man was caught and murdered by the mukhabarat.) Both Sam and Mariam are unusually attractive (of course, this being fiction), and they are drawn together from the outset. But circumstances weigh heavily against it. For Sam, an affair with an asset is a firing offense that could get him summarily dismissed from the CIA. For Mariam, it’s a matter of life and death. If anyone in the Palace finds out, she would face torture and would almost certainly be shot as a traitor. In the novel, we follow them through the months ahead as events spin out of control in Syria.

Q: Sam tells Mariam about a handler who used a taxidermied cat as a dead drop, “The agent would stuff papers and messages in a compartment that had once held intestines.” If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Don’t miss this enthralling standout debut, one of the best to come across my desk in recent years’ – Adam LeBor, Financial Times

Advance Praise

For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. It is a dazzling debut and comes from a place of great personal knowledge. McCloskey himself covered Syria as a CIA analyst from 2008 to 2014, living and working in field stations throughout the region and briefing officials in Washington. Q: Sam has an assigned “funnyname,” Burt O. Goldjagger, an absurd-sounding alias to use in written cable traffic. Real CIA aliases are just as absurd. Reading this book, I couldn’t help reflecting on the subsequent devastation that Syria’s civil war wreaked on her people. The multiple opposing forces and brutal authorities are all here in this fictional version of the conflict’s early days. Of course, this isn’t history, it’s fiction, but I feel like I understood the history a little better for having read it. The real-life political machinations of this confusing, multi-sided conflict make Damascus Station that much more compelling. Other details jump out at the reader as well, and I had to ask him about a few of them. True or false?

Damascus Station is simply marvellous storytelling...a stand-out thriller and essential reading for fans of the genre' - Financial Times A: Not sure, actually. I’d heard this mentioned in the Langley rumor mill, but I think the truth may have been lost in the mists of the early Cold War.” For an authentic representation of what it's like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station. McCloskey has captured it all: the breathtaking close calls, the hand in glove of tech and ops, the heartbreaking disappointments, the thrill of a hard-won victory' - Alma Katsu, author of Red Widow and former CIA and NSA analyst I’m an avid reader of the genre and I am sure many of its leading lights have influenced me in some way: le Carré, McCarry, Deighton, Clancy, Greene, Cruz Smith, Higgins, Forsyth, the list could go on. More recently people like David Ignatius, Jason Matthews, Daniel Silva and Alex Berenson come to mind. One aspect of the genre — though by no means important to every author writing in it — that has influenced my work is the tension between moral clarity and moral ambiguity permeating so much of the intelligence business. I love stories that have good guys and bad guys while at the same time entertaining the gray areas. I like the complexity and the ambiguity that come with the intrigue, and I hope to carry that through in my novels.” A thrilling portrayal of espionage, love and betrayal… utterly brilliant& guaranteed to keep you pinned to your sunlounger’– Dorset MagazineSuperb breathlessly gripping thrilling & truly terrifying, written in unadorned style by an CIA agent, almost real in its details of CIA espionage in Syria, savage feuds within Assad palace, intrigues of Mideast. Highly recommended' - Simon Sebag Montefiore

To be honest, I have no admiration for the CIA, particularly because they are always portrayed - and are here as well - as being gung ho American even to the extent of making sure that American fast food is available. McCloskey says there was a hot dog vending machine in the original headquarters building and it may still be there. For an authentic representation of what it’s like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station. McCloskey has captured it all: the breathtaking close calls, the hand in glove of tech and ops, the heartbreaking disappointments, the thrill of a hard-won victory’– Alma Katsu, author of Red Widow and former CIA and NSA analystThe rebels are planning a spectacular last-ditch effort to turn the tide. The Mossad is getting restless. The Russians have been called in. Sam Joseph has a strategy, but since it includes withholding a lot of information from his own station chief, it is beginning to seem questionable at best. Good tradecraft is important – but what if the other side’s is better? Superb breathlessly gripping thrilling & truly terrifying, written in unadorned style by an CIA agent, almost real in its details of CIA espionage in Syria, savage feuds within Assad palace, intrigues of Mideast. Highly recommended‘– Simon Sebag Montefiore Ultimately, I was interested in telling an authentic story: one that described the actual CIA, its tradecraft and operations and the real Syrian war. The story came to life as I wrote. Over time — and this was not obvious at the beginning, by the way — it became clear that the relationship between Sam and Mariam was this story’s emotional core. Their relationship provided a lens for the operations, the intrigue and the civil war. The novel became their story. If I could give this book a zero, I would. As a Syrian Christian myself, I am utterly disappointed with how McCloskey’s world-building and cultural sensitivity stopped at a smattering of Arabic slang and stereotypes that cater to harmful perspectives held by some of his Western audience.

Damascus Station is simply marvellous storytelling… a stand-out thriller and essential reading for fans of the genre’– Financial Times One of the best spy thrillers for years … McCloskey is a former CIA analyst who worked in the Middle East. As with le Carré, much of the fascination of his writing comes from his insider’s knowledge of spying’s shadow ballet … Treat yourself to a walk along the Street Called Straight: you won’t find a more compelling guide than David McCloskey’ The TimesIt’s almost a cliché that Joseph and Haddad break one of the iron rules of espionage and fall in love. Of course, this makes it even more dangerous for her if she is compromised and greatly raises the stakes for keeping her safe. Joseph is at greater risk too. The Agency would clamp down hard on him if it learned of the affair. It could even be career-ending. Yet, McCloskey manages to keep their relationship real. The tension keeps building as Haddad’s assignments become more dangerous and complex, and as evidence accumulates about an unthinkably deadly plot. You get a break when the action occasionally moves from Damascus to lovingly described France…