Another Great Spy Novel

The spy novel genre has produced some excellent writing over the past several decades or more. While spy novels can be simplistic jingoistic techno-thrillers, like Tom Clancy (though I confess to the guilty pleasure of having read a number of his paperweights), at their best they explore the depths of the human psyche and our capacity for altruism and cruelty, selflessness and greed, and some times the simple banality of those with power. Consider some of the great spy authors: Graham Greene, John LeCarre, Alan Furst, Charles McCarry, and Robert Littell to name a few. Here's an NPR story.

I just finished Charles McCarry's latest work and its worth a read. Here's my review on Amazon. In addition to some racy romance and thrilling action, McCarry explores the uses of physical and psychological torture and its impact on torturer and victim. In doing so he holds a mirror up for the contemporary reader, not in a heavy-handed way, but one is led to uncomfortable reflections about the capacity of humans to inflict unspeakable suffering in what the torturers perceive as a good cause.

Place a hold and check it out from the library on Linkcat.