If today’s global instability and America’s turn towards authoritarianism isn’t keeping you up enough at night, try this book!  McCloskey is a former CIA analyst who specialized in Syria, and that expertise shines through this excellent spy tale.  He has written four novels and hosts a podcast based in Britain about intelligence work.  It’s been downloaded by over 20 million people.

This book takes place in Damascus, Syria where Samual Joseph has been sent to work out of the American embassy in order to recruit a highly placed Syrian official as a spy.  He meets Mariam who works in the palace and whose father and uncle are important army officers serving Assad.  Syria and Assad’s inner circle at the palace are increasingly chaotic and intrigue-ridden locations as Assad’s Syria descends into civil war and disaster.  The action is fast-paced, and McCloskey gradually turns up the tension as the book approaches its end.  There is a lot of gory violence, torture, murder, and chemical warfare’s horrible effects, but as long as I didn’t read the book before going to bed, it was manageable.

While I think McCloskey has talent, I don’t think I’ll read the rest of the books in the series.  This one made me tense and I don’t need further, voluntary sources of tension.  Back to poetry for the time being.