Customer Reviews

Direct Action

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The best (so far) of John Weisman's recent batch of post Rogue Warrior thrillers that will take readers inside the CIA and the War on Terror. The story detials how the CIA is hiring independent contractors from private security firms to perform tasks that the agency is not able to do on its own, either because of a lack of qualified officers or because of the leadership bureaucracy at Langley. The story revolves around efforts to track down an al-Qaeda bomb maker planning a series of upcoming attacks, combining fact and fiction. Aside from being entertaining, the narrative also includes tons of details on the current state of the CIA and past intelligence operations. It is also a primer on how the War on Terror needs to be fought effectively. Weisman has done for the War on Terror in novels what Clancy did for the Cold War. Hopefully he'll continue writing books like this.

Mr Weisman's latest novel is outstanding. A very well written story covering the turbulence of the intelligence community of the United States. Few can cover the special operations and covert-clandestine worlds better than Mr Weisman. He has related the "second" front of the intelligence war - ourselves. Giving up spies for satelites, tradecraft for technology, and a reliance on zero defect mentality vice leadership. The story fills in the gaps since the day America changed, September 11th, to present time. It is not always fun to read if you have half your brain tuned into the current events. It will upset you with pretty accurate description of managers and bureaucrats poorly filling in for leaders and opertives and re-assure you that many sleep well in their beds at night for the few warriors that man the "walls" remain. The set up and flow is excellent. The explanation supportive to the story, not tedious or insulting. The theme is clear and well presented. If you enjoy the covert action story that is clearly related to our present situation as a nation of people, you will enjoy this book. If you do not regulary enjoy this kind of reading, take a chance on this one - it is well worth the time.

John Weisman is an excellent author, and Direct Action will not disappoint. After listening to the author in a lengthy radio interview, I realized that he was telling a tell-all about the CIA couched in a fictional storyline. That approach seems like the best approach, since no author can name names of real operational field agents. It is the story of the gutting of the CIA in the previous administration, where the president wanted to "clean up" the CIA by getting rid of field agents who by necessity had to interact with "unsavory" people as sources. The presidential directive was to rely largely on signals intelligence and satellite imagry. The result was a CIA who falsely said about WMD in Iraq, "it's a slam-dunk". It is the story of a CIA that was broken.

Direct Action is not a dry story, but a compelling story of "outsourcing" intelligence fieldwork, and the daring efforts of former CIA agents who now do the same work but without the stifling bureaucracy in "the company". It's a page-turner, but keep in mind that it is largely fact in a fictional story.

...this work by Mr.Weisman. It is a winner on most fronts.
A-It is extremely entertaining
B-It is very readable (no urge to put it down)
C-There is no hint of "lazy author syndrome" Technical is better than expected
D-The characters are well formed and credible
E-Background coloration is better than expected
F-An excellent melding of current and historical fact with the fiction of the novel
G-Predicability is at a minimum
H-Plotting is well paced and rational
I-No extraneous distractions that blur the basic story

I purchased this book from Amazon "Used"
I wish John Weisman were more prolific. I enjoy his work quite a lot.
However if he were more productive his quality would probable drop.
Mr.Weisman. Set your own pace. I'll wait for your next product

An al-Qa'ida bomb maker is on the loose. Former CIA Tom
Stafford,Marilyn Jean O'Connor (MJ)current CIA and the Jew
Reuven are the only ones capable of catching him. The CIA
just can not handle it. The bomb maker has planned for several
attacks. Tom and MJ try to warn those in power but no one is
listening. This book is full of action and keeps you on the
edge of your seat. It is very exciting. Read this book and
see if the attacks are stopped. Its a great thriller. I love
JOHN WEISMAN. He is one of my favorites. (I did not like his
Rogue Warrior series - the covert actions are his best)

This book I consider a keeper and a re-read.

This novel painfully points out the problems with the CIA during the terms of Directors such as Webster, Gates, Woolsey, Deutch and George Tenet. Seasoned intelligence professionals left the agency in droves or were forced to retire. Directives were issued that in effect prevented the clandestine service from spying. Positions were filled by individuals few of whom had the experience, ability or inclination to recruit agents to spy for America. Tom Stafford, a former CIA case officer, can't stand how things have deteriorated. He joins up with a group of former CIA agents who now are independent contactors calling themselves the 4627 Company. This group contracts projects that the rather impotent CIA would not be capable of handling. This plot centers around a genius terrorist bombmaker who has miniaturized parts so they can be hidden and carried undetected onto to commercial aircraft. This is really an almost impossible to put down read. My only complaint is that there were at least ten pages where portions of the text were blacked out as though by a censor. I find that rather disconcerting. Plenty of espionage tips and tricks. And plenty of excitement as they hunt down and terminate the enemy.

Direct Action is, without a doubt, the most entertaining book I've read in a year. John Weisman is well known for leveraging his deep connections in the intelligence community and a thorough commitment to authentic detail while writing his novels...

His knowledge of tradecraft, history and current events is remarkable -- and he masterfully weaves them all together...making the reader wonder if the story is fact or fiction. The result, in this case, is that Direct Action is one of the most authentic, insightful, and exciting spy novels in print today. You'll love it.

If only a fraction of what John Weisman says of the incompetence and bungling of the CIA, the United States faces serious problems. To Weisman's credit, he is a skilled storyteller. He begins with a highly publicized fact about the CIA and then weaves the story further. The question is whether what he weaves is true or not?

But, of course, "Direct Action" is a novel, a thriller and a very good one at that.

The initial theme is that the CIA has grown so incompetent after its devesatation in the 1990s that even its most basic intelligence gathering functions must now be outsourced, primarily to former CIA employees. One of these, McGee, has developed a source in Gaza. Told that he needs photographic evidence of a certain terrorist reputed to be in Gaza, McGee is blown into smithereens on his way there.

Enter Marilyn Jean O'Connor, an analyst in the Counterterrorist Phtoto Interpretation Group at the CIA. One almost suspects that Weisman included this ultimately minor character in order to heap more abuse on the CIA. But MJ does serve a pair of small purposes beyond depicting an organization that can't do anything right: she further identifies the mysterious terrorist who allegedly doesn't exist and she leads us to her boyfriend, Tom Stafford.

Stafford, formerly CIA, now works for 4627, one of the private companies providing the CIA with its human gathered intelligence. Stafford is an appealing hero. Smart, but not too smart. Cynical, but not too cynical. And possessed of a very workmanlike manner in his spying.

Conveniently, MJ is due to visit boyfriend Stafford in Paris and she just happens to bring along the classified material identifying the terrorist which the CIA has rejected. Yeah, MJ is a little loose when it comes to following orders, but you know how it is. Weisman is to be forgiven this major stretch: he had to make the story work.

Even more conveniently, at the same time MJ is arriving in Paris, Tom is tipped by a long time informant about --- you guessed it --- a mysterious terrorist who, by the way, has developed a sneaky new way of making virtually undetectable bombs. The informant is shot dead as he walks with Tom.

Weisman moves his story along quickly. Once the preliminaries are over, he shifts into an even higher gear and "Direct Action" becomes a total page-turner.

The action moves from Paris to Israel to Paris to Washington. There's lots of spycraft involved; plenty of double-crosses and close escapes and the clock ticking down to the next major-league terrorist attack.

Weisman, in a word, is superb. The plot, though it has a few small black holes, is tightly woven. The backstories about the CIA are frightening. The characters are interesting.

All in all, a truly well done thriller. And if wht Weisman writes about the CIA is true even in substantial part, a very frightening thriller.

Jerry

John Weisman (best known as the co-author of the rogue warrior series) writes with great detail, drawing the reader into the exciting world of a CIA subcontractor. The main character races around the globe, uncovering details of a plot to utilize a new kind of untraceable explosive. Problem is the action fizzles at the very end. Its like Mr Weisman had a goal number of pages to write, and as soon as he reached it he ends the book.
I will still give Weisman's other books a try because he has potential.

This book made it past the censors and yet gives the layman an inside look at the frustrations for operations personnel in the CIA. While the detail can bog you down in the first few chapters, it's well worth it as you move through the book. Finally a book that exposes the political correctness that has hog tied our operatives in the field.
Well thought out; detailed and true to life senarios.