The Silent Man

December 15, 2008
Bestseller Berenson's well-plotted and thoughtful third thriller to feature CIA agent John Wells (after The Ghost War
) finds Wells and his fellow CIA agent and fiancée, Jenny Exley, living happily together in Washington, D.C., content to devote themselves to fighting the forces of evil. One morning, while stuck in traffic on their way to CIA headquarters, men on motorcycles attack them in their minivan. Exley suffers a serious gunshot injury in an act of revenge by minions of Pierre Kowalski, an enemy from an earlier book. Meanwhile, jihadists bent on destroying America steal two small atomic bombs. These extremely clever villains, per Berenson's style, aren't mad dog idiots but credible characters with reasons, at least from their own perspective, to be doing the great evil they're planning. Fast and furious when it needs to be, this is a welcome addition to an excellent series. Berenson won an Edgar for his first novel, The Faithful Spy
.

March 2, 2009
Former Edgar Award–winner Berenson returns with another top-notch spy thriller that is as realistic and unnerving as anything in the genre today. After his fiancée and partner is severely injured in an attack, CIA agent John Wells tours the world in search of revenge. With a cast of international characters, narrator George Guidall has a tough task on his tongue—luckily, he comes through with a rousing performance that captures the dialogue with ease and holds listeners’ attention from start to finish. Guidall’s tone is gritty, dry and speckled with an underlying sense of realism that makes this story all the more frightening. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 15).