The Secret Soldier by Alex Berenson

Part V of the John Wells saga.

John Wells is out of the CIA and living the quiet life with his North Conway, New Hampshire cop girlfriend. Been a civilian for 2 years now. Unfortunately, there is a loose end in the double agent Robinson who ran off at the end of Midnight House. A chance postcard to Robinson’s spouse alerts the CIA to send (ask) Wells to Montego Bay; if private citizen Wells tracks the guy down the CIA isn’t involved. Wells and Gaffan, a soldier he met in Afghanistan, perform the take down. No problemo.

About the same time, a coordinated series of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia kills hundreds. On the lead is a former Saudi security officer who believes that surviving a desert 4-wheeler accident years before is a call by Allah to form a group of loyal believers and wait for a mission. Bakr believes that the royal family has lost their way and the line of succession that King Abdullah wants is not what his brother Saeed thinks would be the best direction for a new Islamic republic.

This splinter cell is training in Syria and conducts an execution of King Abdullah’s granddaughter raising the stakes. Abdullah is at first shaken, then his anger is directed toward his brother, but he can’t verify anything. And he can’t use the Saudi police, the royal’s security force, or the Islamic police because Saeed controls them all. He needs someone totally outside who can find out if Saeed is behind this mess.

John Wells.

Now Wells hasn’t killed in 2 years, but he is pretty sure he will be killing again, real soon. He calls Gaffan and they start to track down clues through Egypt, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. The old skills never left him. As the great sage Don Henley once said, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Bakr not only wants to bring down the House of Saud, he wants to provoke a war between Saudi Arabia and the US and has a pretty good plan – kidnap the American ambassador, make ridiculous demands, cut off some limbs, provoke the US to invade and voila, end of US presence 0n the Arabian peninsula. And he nearly pulls it off if not for Wells tracking the hostage to Mecca and uncovering damaging evidence about Saeed.

Now the palace intrigue may indeed be reminiscent of some old Shakespeare play or Greek tragedy; I wouldn’t know. But the House of Saud is seriously screwed up. This was another believable tale of high-energy espionage with uber agent and alpha dog, but emotionally bruised John Wells, plowing the road. Can’t say I could see any clues about where the next book will take us, but wherever it goes, I guarantee, I’ll be there. A quick run through Berensen’s first 5 books ends here. Now I have to patiently await his next.

East Coast Don