Operation Fantasy Plan: A Novel [Hardcover]

Peter Gilboy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1997

As he seeks to discover the real reason why he has been fired from the CIA, Peter Gaines travels to ""The Fantasy Store,"" a brothel in Bangkok, and uncovers some sinister CIA secrets that could cost millions of lives."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Peter Gaines, an obsessive, burned-out CIA spy recruiter, is fired abruptly and determines to return to Southeast Asia, where his troubles began?in the agency's prostitution-fronted Fantasy Plan, which lures international businessmen with strong foreign-government contracts. Gaines focuses his troubled thoughts on a young prostitute in the plan named Songka, fleeing a variety of CIA master agents in a fast cat-and-mouse game as he attempts to rescue her and right what he sees as old wrongs. Author Gilboy, a former government agent and Asian studies scholar, has created an intense, philosophical novel. Unfortunately, readers may find Gaines's sanity doubtful and the villains unbelievable, which keeps this first novel from being a really good read.?Alice DiNizo, Raritan P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Peter Gaines was a CIA operative for almost 20 years before he was shown the door, and he wants to know why. When he discovers that his neighbor's apartment is being used to trap and blackmail men who have been lured into sex, he realizes that the CIA's Fantasy Plan, which he operated in Thailand, is in place next door. That realization sends Gaines on a mission to rescue the one true love of his life, Song, a Thai woman he recruited for the Fantasy Plan. On the surface, Gaines wants to rescue Song and end the Fantasy Plan, but in fact, he needs to recover the humanity he sublimated as he convinced peasants to take arms against their government and young girls to subject themselves to sexual degradation: all for the good of the Organization. A disturbingly memorable account of a man's search for his soul set against a background of international intrigue. Wes Lukowsky

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688152465
• ISBN-13: 978-0688152468
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,159,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Complete and Utter Trash, December 27, 2007

By 

Bonner '62 (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Operation Fantasy Plan: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

This is just a review to get my views off my chest. I'm sure no one will read a review on a book 10 years old that wasn't a best seller to begin with. The author is a HUMINT wannabee who did overt debriefing for DIA in Thailand. I heard him on radio in Kansas City when the book was out. His interview, his website and all the reviews I have read reinforce the idea that the author wouldn't know an intelligence operation if it ran over him in parkiong lot. He is one of a long line of authors who inflate their credentials and intimate connections with the CIA that just don't exist. I spent 3 years at one the Agency's Bases in Thailand about the same time the author was in Bangkok with DOD and can tell you nothing rings true. He now works for a skip trace company looking for husbands who have run away from the trailer park. That probably challenges the poor slub's Tradecraft skills. There I vented, it feels good.

5.0 out of 5 stars INTELLIGENT SPY THRILLER, May 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Operation Fantasy Plan (Audio Cassette)

This is a well crafted thriller, all the more disturbing by the fact that it is true. Beautifully written with astounding honesty. You will not be able to put this little gem down. Gilboy is the undisputed master at storytelling.

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid thriller, interesting character study, June 22, 1998

By 

johnglor94 "johnglor94" (Hamden, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Operation Fantasy Plan: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It has aspects of a spy thriller, but it also is a well-drawn character study of a man whose re-assessing what his choices in life have resulted in. And he seeks a chance for redemption of past sins.

While the thriller portions are pretty standard fare, I foun the main character's journey thought-provoking. worth a look for those seeking a more intelligent thriller, but those seeking merely slam-bang action will be disappointed.