Customer Reviews

A Firing Offense

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a thriller author myself, I read a tremendous amount of "the competition." I had seen some media people discussing this novel on television when the hardcover came out, and was not suffienctly intrigued to buy it. But I picked it up in paperback last night and read it in two sittings. First, Ignatius's writing ability is far above average. With seeming ease, he writes with great economy and insight. A FIRING OFFENSE is bare of the cheap devices usually employed by thriller writers (in fact, it hardly even contains violence) yet I could not turn the pages fast enough. Ignatius handles the moral complexities with a sure hand, reminding me a bit of vintage LeCarre. The accumulated wisdom of an international journalist also feels genuine, and adds greatly to the novel. The fact that this novel did not break out is a sad commentary on the taste of the general readership in this country. Best of luck to Mr. Ignatius, who should have a bright literary future.

It's hard to capture what journalists do for a living. Much of it seems dull and a lot of it is also silly--and yet journalism is fascinating to people inside and outside the business. Not since Tony Hillerman's A Fly on the Wall has a reporter written a book that so authentically captures the texture of reporting--the thrills, the pain, and, most of all, the moral ambiguity. My favorite moment in the book is when the reporter-protagonist, having gotten admission to a fancy restaurant where diners are being held hostage by terrorists, thinks to ask one of the diners what he had been eating when the gunmen burst in. I used to be a reporter and I can imagine myself asking that question, knowing it seems silly--and knowing also that small details like that one make or break a piece of reporting. At the same time, Ignatius has created a completely believable spy story, with genetic engineering, Chinese disinformation, and CIA incompetence blended into an original and exciting brew. Even the obligatory sex scenes are good!

This book was listed a few years ago on a respected reviewers "best bets" and although I recorded the title for reading at some future time it was only recently that I remembered the title again while browsing and decided to give it a try. In the book, Ignatius has captured the essence of a young reporter's conflict between writing a good and important story and compromising his beliefs. The development of the central character, Eric Truell, is masterful and the inside look at the workings of the intelligence community is fascinating. The plot moves quickly and keeps you interested. I particularly like the way in which the chapters and the scenes flow which makes the reader want to continue reading even beyond bedtime! I recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers and adventure but is looking for something a little bit different than your typical international espionage fiction. It's very readable and worth a try!

This book is about a man who works for a major newspaper in the US. He has sources from the CIA that give him material that boosts his career. In return, this CIA agent would likve a few favors from him. The reporter get tangled in a web of deception and conspiracy. This book had an okay start but the ending was supurb. It was thrilling, suspensful, and exciting. I really reccomend this book.

David Ignatius and I worked together as reporters in the Middle East when we were very young, although for different newspapers. Even then, as a newcomer to foreign correspondence, he impressed us all by his sharp eye for detail, his energy and his ability to make connections between people and events. His knowing, insightful "A Firing Offense," to me at least, represents an extension of Ignatius' marvelous journalism in foreign-affairs which began almost two decades ago. This is a novel of truths--sad truths about the journalism business, sordid truths about the world at large, sorry truths about the way we often treat the perceived losers in life. The plot is tight, the language spare. This is a must-read for lovers of spy-fiction, but I highly recommend "A Firing Offense" to general readers as well. David Ignatius has already proven that he's a master of the game in journalism (his career at The Washington Post is testimony to that); now he's shown that in fiction, too, he's at the top of his craft

This is a well-written page-turner centering on the adventures of a foreign correspondent caught up in French foreign intrigues.
The book has a few faults. Among the faults are announcing the death of Arthur Bowman on page 3 and then "flashing back" for the next 250 pages until Arthur Bowman finally dies on page 254. Too much of the book is spent with the reader KNOWING that Arthur Bowman dies, and even WHERE he dies, and just waiting for it to happen.
The female characters in the book are superfluous -- they're either in the book as decorations or a cheering section.
Lastly, for all the research has done, and real-life experience the author obviously has on the subject, it's jarring to see the author describe a CIA bulletin board reminding agents to "get their malaria shots." There's no such thing as a "malaria shot."

A fantastic merging of the espionage and media worlds, something easier said than done. The plot was clever, the ideas fresh, and the characters well-developed. I look forward to reading more of Ignatius' work.

At its face value, "A Firing Offense" is a first-rate action-adventure yarn, with description and character development by a real craftsman. At a more satisfying level, Ignatius uses the device of a reporter being drawn incrementally into cooperating with the CIA as an allegory for how our numerous "little decisions" in our lives put us on paths that make the "big decisions" foregone conclusions when we reach them.

The Bob Novak/Judith Miller debacle has returned the public's attention to media ethics. With Al-jazeera having a franchise on Al-qaeda news releases, and several TV shows nothing more than Administration apologists, we have rediscovered that in the news not only is the messenger suspect, now the source and the message cannot be trusted.
David Ignatius's "A Firing Offense" fleshes up these abstractions which never appear on the Evening News (except when it involves the US military paying Iraqi journalists). A drained reporter, Eric Truell, is looking for a story to break his ennui as head of the Paris bureau of the New York Mirror. When a blockbuster story involving corrupt business practices in China falls in his lap, Truell makes a Faustian bargain with an undercover operative, disregarding the ethical implications. He has just committed a firing offense.

Ignatius, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has his finger on the pulse of his material. He has a perfect grasp of the small details that build a story. Yet, it is in the larger picture he excels: the corrupt business practices of corporations; the recruitment of journalists for espionage; the inaneness of roundtable TV and event-driven news; and the extraordinary power of the newspaper columnist. A few of the issues captured in this appealing story about a hunted newshound.
In a world increasingly fragmented by a digital divide where any uncorroborated rubbish can be printed at the click of a button, a world defined by Nielsen ratings, where deep background briefings determine cachet, the lessons of the Firing Offense need to be taken to heart.

This is a terrific book. Ignatius writes for the Beltway insider as well as those on the outside looking in. Has a good moral for young journalists about the corruption of power and information and the difficult choices that senior reporters make everyday.