Counterspy: A Spycatcher Novella By Matthew Dunn William Morrow September 2014
For two days, four CIA heavyweights have been waterboarding a small, wiry Indian agent that is physically inferior to any one of the men, but mentally superior a thousand fold to all of them. Sahir has been practicing withstanding torture for most of his life, and has decided that after the fourth waterboarding, he will cry uncle, because no one has ever lasted that long before. When he does start talking he informs the agents that his name is Trapper and he allowed himself to be caught so that he could send a message to the head of the CIA. One of their top agents will be killed in retaliation for killing a high ranking Taliban member. Please pass this on to Agent Will Cochrane, as he is the target.
Then when Sahir is put in a cell, he disappears like a puff of smoke; Sahir means magician. The real Trapper sets his course for Washington, D.C.
Will is already in D.C. and being stalked by a Pakistani Intelligence Officer that has turned on him. Will wins the day, which is also his 35th birthday, but is put into a safe house that is shared by a female colleague he would like to know better. Will and Chrissie had joined forces once before; now she is his baby sitter. Will is thinking of getting out of the business and finding a wife and thinks Chrissie is the one he will choose. Will has a rather unusual bucket list.
COUNTERSPY is a short novella that gives Will Cochrane’s background from the time he was seven and his CIA father was killed; at seventeen he killed four men that attacked his mother and were trying to get his sister; he put his sister in a private school; then he joined the French Foreign Legion; graduated with an honors degree from Cambridge; recruited by M16 and has served nine years as a top secret operative. He also works with the CIA. COUNTERSPY is also a lead in to Mr. Dunn’s next Cochrane book, DARK SPIES that is a superlatively edgy and white knuckle suspense tale – if the first few pages are anything to go by.
COUNTERSPY is paced like a speeding bullet with action on most every page. Matthew Dunn has created a quick read that keeps the reader invested in every word and connecting with the intelligent, straightforward characters he has produced. There is also an excerpt from DARK SPIES to whet your appetite to Will’s next adventure.