You know me and spies! How could I resist? Especially given that this novel is set in Bahrain, (with their distinctive flag on the cover) a small island nation I knew little about, which would prove to be so fascinating. The author lived in Bahrain, and was a CIA ops officer for six years, so there was every reason to assume she knows her stuff – this novel has already won her an Edgar, amongst other awards, for best first novel.
Set in the 2010s, Bahrain is a kingdom of two tiers, the ruling monarchy is Sunni, and the Shia are treated as second-class citizens. The monarchy panders to the rich, gated communities of luxury villas populated by oil execs and expats and the odd member of the royal family.
Harsh crooning of a Rod Stewart tribute band from inside the Dragon Hotel. Place was probably crawling with Brits, a rowdy indulgent crowd thrilled to exchange their native rain clouds for sun and palms but who clung to their music and alcohol with Churchillian tenacity.
This is typical of what CIA operative Shane Collins sees as he travels the capital city of Manama. His main task though is to seek intelligence from the Shia community, to uncover support from overseas, presumed to be Iran, as the ‘Fourteen February’ insurgents prepare to act against the monarchy. The novel begins with a meeting between Shane and Rashid, his primary informant. Collins is a seasoned spy of some 25 years, working out his remaining months until retirement, but is under pressure from his boss, Whitney Alden Mitchell, who at 28 was the youngest CIA station chief in history, to get more info. After a series of bombings in the city, of which it’s not exactly clear who knew what about them, the ante is upped further.
Berry breaks off the main action for a short interlude in which narrator Shane tells us about the three main women in his life. His mother; his ex-wife Marlene who couldn’t cope with her husband the spook – the persuader – the manipulator; and finally Almaisa.
I have the most photos of her. They are colorful and serious; she wears her signature bold abayas but is rarely smiling, seems distracted at times. Perhaps because of her scar, her face is often turned, not fully visible. Still, her green eyes always manage to dominate the photos, as though insisting on her relevance and existence. Green – the only eye color that changes, I read somewhere.
Almaisa is an artist and trained in Italy. They meet at the opening of the Opera House where one of her mosaics is prominently displayed, and Shane is admiring it. Invited to her studio to see her work, he falls headlong for her which, as he is drawn into her life leads him to question the situation. Additionally, Rashid is starting to trust Collins more, giving him more information about the bombings, but Shane is conflicted over passing it on and putting Rashid in danger…
No, nothing good would come from writing the report. I would hold the information until I had a use for it. It might be inconsequential or it might be vital, but if nothing else it was unknown, at least to Whitney, and in this business unknowns were everything, all the more valuable the longer they stayed that way. […] It was the architecture of espionage, the house we all shared.
Having read up a little (*ahem* Wikipedia) on Bahrain’s recent political history, it’s clear that Berry has experience enough of the country to bend the history to fit her narrative. It was good that in this world ruled by men, there was one strong female character in Almaisa. I did feel sorry for poor used expat wife Poppy Johnson though, with her botched boob job. In terms of the tradecraft, it was fun to see how Rashid learned from the veteran Collins, it all felt very realistic.
If I were to pitch this book, I’d describe it as Greene meets Le Carré in Bahrain, resonancing in particular with The Quiet American and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. It has a rather slowburn start, as we learn how the Americans’ presence works, how the ex-pats live and the Bahraini institutions all answer to the monarchy. However, once Collins meets Almaisa, and Rashid starts to take him into his confidence, things really hot up, and Collins is in real danger of being exposed as a Shiite sympathiser rather than a caretaker of American lives and interests. The quality of the writing is very good indeed, this is a literary spy thriller with superb political underpinning. And by the way, the novel’s unusual title does get explained! Highly recommended.
Source: Review copy – thank you! No Exit Press, paperback, 256 pages.
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Thanks for the blog tour support x
This sounds really interesting, and I know nothing about Bahrain!
It was very well done indeed. Happy to pass on if you’d like it!