Review: Great Spy Story in 1980'ties Beirut.The real deal.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2014
The book start off fast and you are immersed in the story from the beginning. The detail is just sufficient to give you a vivid picture of the situation. Having lived in the middle east I felt I was back there. The descriptions are right on.Finally a realistic spy story you can relate to. No super-humans here. Just the gritty, unbearable truth of the seemingly psychedelic life during the civil war in Beirut.You feel the the city breathe with totally random violence happening right before your eyes. Who can you trust? When will you unwittingly get caught at a checkpoint? Will the grenades hit your street next? Random political assassinations abound.How anybody can live like that? How can you survive with your insanity intact? Who can you trust? Nothing is what it seems to be.This is the best spy book I have read since Barry Eisler's John Rain series. Definitely a five star.Highly recommended for lovers of spy novels/political suspense/Middle East politics.If you like this story try "Kill with a Borrowed Knife: or Agent Ai" by Michael Wreford. Another great spy story. It has the same immersion in the local culture as Dynamite Fishermen. In this case Moscow, Beijing and Hong Kong. Westerners in Asia slowly getting corrupted by the heat, the rain, the culture and the locals, trying to resist, but ultimately getting assimilated. Resistance is futile.