The Prisoner of Guantanamo

As the title suggests, the story mostly takes place in Guantanamo. The author, Dan Fesperman, introduced a great character, FBI interrogator Revere Falk. Falk not only has ties to the FBI, but also a mysterious and complicated connection with Gonzalo Rubiero, aka Paco, a spy for Castro. The action centers around the interrogation of prisoners from the middle east, especially Afghanistan and Yemen. The Yemeni Adnan al-Hamdi is of particular interest because of his seemingly incidental arrest by the Americans, yet the lingering suspicion that he knows much more than Falk has been able to extract from him. Is there a Cuban-Yemeni connection? Who is Hussay? Maybe the only way to get the information is to torture it out of him, rather than use the kinder and gentler way of Falk. The CIA and FBI, as well as private contractors are involved in the interrogations, but no one trusts anyone else. Although they obviously need Arabic speaking interpreters and interrogators, it is those Arabic speakers who come under the most suspicion about data that the U.S. wants and can’t get. Just who is it that is really pulling all the strings behind the scene? In the midst of the action, a sergeant turns up dead on Cuban turf, not the American military base – and it makes no sense where his body was discovered.

Falk is a great character with all the necessary flaws to make him interesting, and he must work hard to sort out the good guys from the bad guys. The author gives him a love interest in Pam Cobb, and like Falk, she is one of the Arabic-speaking interrogators whose loyalty is in question. It’s not clear where her allegiances truly lie.

Not all of the loose ends were tied up, but I found the resolutions of the major conflicts to have been particularly satisfying, but I didn’t see it coming. I chose a Fesperman book based on East Coast Don’s strong recommendation, and I am excited to have a new author to read. I’ve already acquired my next Fesperman novel, Lie in the Dark.