Though almost five years have passed since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — a seeming eternity in an age of 24-hour news cycles and endless permutations and tribulations that constitute the Iraq war — many still beat the drum that it’s “too soon” to explore the landscape of a post-Sept. 11 world. It’s a mantra, thankfully, that hasn’t stopped many literary and commercial fiction writers from grappling with the concept, even if there have been few standout efforts so far, and future titles (such as John Updike’s “Terrorist” and Martin Amis’ short-story collection starring hijacker Mohamed Atta) sound vaguely squirm-inducing.
Alex Berenson, a business reporter for The New York Times who reported on the war in Iraq in 2003, may have been told he was taking a serious literary risk by using the after-effects of Sept. 11 for his debut thriller. But if so, it’s to our benefit that he’s ignored those phantom critics and concentrated on building suspense, maintaining thrills and plotting a frighteningly plausible scenario. Save for a few rough patches in believability and pacing, this is a worthwhile first effort.
When John Wells is sent by the CIA to infiltrate an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan, he knows he will have to immerse himself completely in their fundamentalist doctrine to be successful. But when he loses contact with his employers — particularly his handler and unresolved love interest, Jennifer Exley — and keeps silent even after Sept. 11, they assume that success has morphed into treachery, if he hasn’t been killed by the terrorists on whom he was supposed to inform. But any assumptions the agency has made are tossed aside several years later when Wells turns up on American soil — ostensibly to carry out the orders of Omar Khadri, whose agenda consists of topping the carnage level of the World Trade Center.
And so the terror begins. Hundreds are killed in a double bombing attack in Los Angeles. A doctoral student in microbiology conducts secret experiments in his downtown Montreal basement lab. As the death toll mounts from Peshawar to Atlanta and from Langley to New York, the chase is on to bring Wells in and find out where his loyalties lie, even as he does his best to stay focused on the real task at hand: making sure Khadri doesn’t carry out his plans for American devastation.
“The Faithful Spy” brims with knowledge, especially about the frightening tactics used in the name of war. But where the author shines most is in showing how a decade of isolation has affected Wells so much that he’s alienated from his family and future, and that fighting in a war that’s difficult to win may be for the greater good — but can be a personal disaster.
“The Faithful Spy” seeks to enlighten using the trappings of entertainment, combining thinking with thrills. And on that front, it succeeds quite well. *
