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

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Damascus Station is filled with the acronyms and jargon that officers of the agency, like employees throughout the government, throw around so casually. In the vain of the long ago spy novels David brings you into the world that seems so real and you feel right there with them the entire time.

As Sam Joseph dives headfirst into the intricate world of intelligence, readers are treated to a rollercoaster of twists and turns that keep them guessing until the very end. Written by an ex-CIA analyst and set mostly in Syria during the 'unpleasantness' of the Assad regime, it's as detailed and chock full o' tradecraft as you'll ever find. The details of the city of Damascus, the characters on all sides of the conflict, and the mission itself ring absolutely true. At its seemingly torn heart, Damascus Station shows it is still possible to keep the flames of hope burning, when all around is darkness.The story moves along well, the Syrian characters are well drawn, and there's an intriguing, plausible climax and ending. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The CIA find a potential target in a mid-level official working in the Palace – Mariam Haddad, and Sam is sent back in to recruit her. As we move towards the "climactic" ending the CIA stooge allows himself to be captured and tortured to "protect" the asset he loves from exposure (yes insert a little mouth vomit here).

Getting into a relationship with an asset signals immediate disciplinary action and separation from the Agency. From an exfiltration gone awry to a stunning endgame, Damascus Station takes the reader on a breathtaking journey in war-torn Syria. He captures the places and people--and most of all, the sickening feeling in the gut--of this war that shattered poor Syria while America mostly watched. I hope the book is not an accurate portrayal of CIA personnel or activities, but I fear it probably is.McCloskey portrays the brutal inner functioning of the Assad regime, as well as the CIA's occasional ineptitude, while detailing such elements of spy craft as avoiding tails, maximizing dead drops, and operating safe houses. However, Miriam is a beautiful woman and during the course of the recruitment, they fall for each other. Based on Damascus Station’s intriguing plot concept — which is very representative of the type of books I enjoy — and the advance praise it generated, I highly anticipated it to be a book I’d be recommending highly. David McCloskey does a fantastic job painting a fictional yet realistic picture of the people and places involved in the brutal, heartbreaking civil war taking place early in the 21st century. For an authentic representation of what it's like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station .

The Syrian Civil War he launched against peaceful protestors in 2011 as the Arab Spring swirled throughout the Middle East has cost as many as 600,000 lives, more than one of every fifty of Syria’s twenty-two million people. Damascus, here, is somewhere beyond the gates of hell itself as torture scenes give way to sarin chemical bombings. The backdrop of crumbling Syria – a country steeped in rich heritage, history and culture – literally disintegrating under the weight of constant fighting is jarringly juxtaposed with the vibrancy and opulence of Paris and Villefranche-sur-mer and the stunning, peaceful beauty of Tuscany, and these locations provide the freedom for Sam and Mariam to explore their emotions more fully. Of course it proceeds to him sleeping with the asset, and we devolve for awhile in horrid harlequin romance territory.Eight or nine years ago, when Barack Obama served in the White House, the fighting in Syria was at its peak. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. His character is portrayed as one of a soldier, doing his duty, despite however ruthless that requires him to be, but there is not a sense of perverse enjoyment, as there is with the others. Towards the end of the book, the brutal nature of the violence and uprising seems to take the book away from some of the more subtle storytelling that McCloskey lays out earlier in the story, and it also runs on a little bit too long as it edges over 400 pages. Even at the highest echelons of government are people who feel trapped by fear of what might happen to their families and the Syrians in exile are being approached and threatened.

The strength of "Damascus Station" lies in McCloskey's meticulous attention to detail and his ability to create a palpable atmosphere of tension and suspense. The chemistry between Joseph and Haddad adds a human element to the story, transforming it from a mere spy thriller into a tale of personal sacrifice and resilience. McCloskey’s character development was unfortunately nothing more than Arab stereotypes and over-eroticization of Arab women (at one point the phrase “olive-skinned desert princess” is used) that does nothing more than reinforce negative and ignorant Western stereotypes held against the Arab people. Equally, I would have been thrilled with a rich historical fiction that made you feel and think deeply.But others get into the act, too, including Russian intelligence, an Israeli spy, and the jihadist rebels in Syria. When I started reading Damascus Station by Mr David McCloskey, it was amidst the accolades and superlatives surrounding the book. Assad and his allies don’t distinguish between the democratic forces supported by the West and the jihadists who are steadily gaining ground. Throughout, with a diverse cast of believable and developed characters, McCloskey treats readers to a glimpse of life inside a CIA station abroad and to the inner workings of the neurotic and sociopathic Assad regime.