A Loyal Spy
A Thriller
Published on 22. February 2018
Book
Hardback
432 pages
978-1-62872-823-1 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, a Contemporary Tale of Love, Betrayal, and Revenge for Fans of John Le Carre.
The last time Jonah saw Nor ed-Din, he was lying face-down in a pool of icy water in the Khyber Pass. He thought he had killed him, but now the trail of betrayal has come full circle.
Friends since childhood, Jonah and Nor ed-Din had been groomed for the intelligence service, with Jonah as handler for Nor's penetration of ISI. But when Nor is cut loose after the Soviets are forced to withdraw from Afghanistan, the pattern of engagement and abandonment begins. Years later, when contact with Nor is revived to stage an off-the-books, multi-agency assassination attempt on Bin Laden that goes badly wrong, Jonah no longer knows who Nor is really working for?and whether he has simply taken revenge on his former countrymen in a private act of jihad.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the failed operation comes back to haunt its survivors, sowing mistrust when they most need CIA support. For, gradually, the outlines of a plot begin to emerge that takes Nor from the diamond fields of Africa to the mountains of Afghanistan and to the beating heart of London, where millions of lives are at stake.
The last time Jonah saw Nor ed-Din, he was lying face-down in a pool of icy water in the Khyber Pass. He thought he had killed him, but now the trail of betrayal has come full circle.
Friends since childhood, Jonah and Nor ed-Din had been groomed for the intelligence service, with Jonah as handler for Nor's penetration of ISI. But when Nor is cut loose after the Soviets are forced to withdraw from Afghanistan, the pattern of engagement and abandonment begins. Years later, when contact with Nor is revived to stage an off-the-books, multi-agency assassination attempt on Bin Laden that goes badly wrong, Jonah no longer knows who Nor is really working for?and whether he has simply taken revenge on his former countrymen in a private act of jihad.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the failed operation comes back to haunt its survivors, sowing mistrust when they most need CIA support. For, gradually, the outlines of a plot begin to emerge that takes Nor from the diamond fields of Africa to the mountains of Afghanistan and to the beating heart of London, where millions of lives are at stake.
Reviews / Votes
"Sprawling, violent, and contemporary, with whiffs of authenticity that lift it above the crowd." ?Spectator"Complex and detailed . . . A credible, and wholly cynical, tale of dirt, death, and double-dealing, of deracine anti-heroes for whom perpetual conflict has become both lifeblood and poison." ?The Times (London)
"Written by someone who has clearly spent time in the company of the Taliban, accuracy seeps out of every page. . . . fueled by a furious Tom Clancy-style narrative drive." ?Daily Mail
"Simon Conway boldly illustrates the anarchy of 'asymmetric warfare.'" ?Daily Telegraph
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Skyhorse Publishing
Product notice
With printed dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-62872-823-1 (9781628728231)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Simon Conway is the author of The Agent Runner. Born in California in 1967, he studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh and served in a Highland regiment of the British army. Since leaving the military he has worked for the HALO Trust clearing land mines and explosive remnants of war around the world, most recently in Syria. As co-chair of the global Cluster Munition Coalition, he successfully campaigned for the 2008 international treaty that banned cluster bombs. He resides in Scotland with his wife.