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Sam is sent to Paris, where Miriam is attempting to coerce a brave Syrian woman into returning to Syria and renouncing her criticism of the Syrian regime. Miriam must threaten harm to the woman’s family to carry out her mission, threats that cause her to despise herself. Sam’s task is to recruit Miriam as a double agent for the CIA. The task is easy to accomplish, both because Miriam hates the ruling regime and because she feels an immediate sexual attraction to Sam. The rules prohibit Sam from acting on that attraction, but rules have never stopped fictional spies from hopping into bed with assets. Sam puts his career at risk and, as is the custom in novels of this nature, falls in love with Miriam. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. If I could give this book a zero, I would. As a Syrian Christian myself, I am utterly disappointed with how McCloskey’s world-building and cultural sensitivity stopped at a smattering of Arabic slang and stereotypes that cater to harmful perspectives held by some of his Western audience. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?
McCloskey’s remarkably accomplished debut mixes action, a Romeo and Juliet story and previously undisclosed intelligence about Assad’s regime’– The Times Best Summer Books for 2023 Q: Sam has an assigned “funnyname,” Burt O. Goldjagger, an absurd-sounding alias to use in written cable traffic. Real CIA aliases are just as absurd. For an authentic representation of what it’s like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station. McCloskey has captured it all: the breathtaking close calls, the hand in glove of tech and ops, the heartbreaking disappointments, the thrill of a hard-won victory." - Alma Katsu, author of Red Widow and former CIA and NSA analyst A: Not sure, actually. I’d heard this mentioned in the Langley rumor mill, but I think the truth may have been lost in the mists of the early Cold War.”
Q: The bipolar nature of the Agency never ceased to amaze: CIA had the ability to find and kill a person in the remote Hindu Kush, and on the other hand he couldn’t find a working stapler at Langley.
Mr. McCloskey, who grew up in Minnesota and studied international relations, worked as a political analyst in CIA headquarters and from field stations in the Middle East. Don’t miss this enthralling standout debut, one of the best to come across my desk in recent years’ – Adam LeBor, Financial Times At heart, the novel is a love story pairing Sam Joseph, one of the Agency’s top recruiters of agents in “denied areas” such as Moscow (and now Damascus), with Mariam Haddad, a senior official in the Presidential Palace. The CIA dispatches Sam to Paris to recruit Mariam, where she is on a Syrian delegation to a conference. This follows Sam’s aborted attempt to exfiltrate the Agency’s top source in the Palace. (The man was caught and murdered by the mukhabarat.) Both Sam and Mariam are unusually attractive (of course, this being fiction), and they are drawn together from the outset. But circumstances weigh heavily against it. For Sam, an affair with an asset is a firing offense that could get him summarily dismissed from the CIA. For Mariam, it’s a matter of life and death. If anyone in the Palace finds out, she would face torture and would almost certainly be shot as a traitor. In the novel, we follow them through the months ahead as events spin out of control in Syria. A well-educated woman named Miriam, a Syrian general’s daughter, secretly opposes the government that employs her. Miriam’s cousin Razan makes no effort to hide her disdain for the Syrian president. She gets away with it because her father has a position in the government that allows him to shield her. Q: Live bomb tests have been used on cadavers wheeled out on Rollerblades and suspended on IV poles.
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For an authentic representation of what it's like to work in intelligence, look no further than Damascus Station. McCloskey has captured it all: the breathtaking close calls, the hand in glove of tech and ops, the heartbreaking disappointments, the thrill of a hard-won victory' - Alma Katsu, author of Red Widow and former CIA and NSA analyst To be honest, I have no admiration for the CIA, particularly because they are always portrayed - and are here as well - as being gung ho American even to the extent of making sure that American fast food is available. McCloskey says there was a hot dog vending machine in the original headquarters building and it may still be there. Damascus Station is simply marvellous storytelling… a stand-out thriller and essential reading for fans of the genre’– Financial Times Author David McCloskey was a Syria specialist for the CIA for six years. He knows whereof he writes in this novel about espionage in Syria. Damascus Station is filled with the acronyms and jargon that officers of the agency, like employees throughout the government, throw around so casually. Employees of the Agency are officers, never “agents.” Spies recruited within Syria are “assets,” or, rarely, agents. He describes in detail the techniques Sam uses in his two tours in Syria to avoid detection. And he introduces us to gadgets developed by the CIA’s Technical Services Division that would make James Bond’s Q salivate with envy. The book comes across as a primer on tradecraft.
I had one final question for McCloskey. During his time covering Syria, did his views about the country and the global response to the war change in any way? For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.It is a dazzling debut and comes from a place of great personal knowledge. McCloskey himself covered Syria as a CIA analyst from 2008 to 2014, living and working in field stations throughout the region and briefing officials in Washington.
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