Customer Reviews

The Silent Man

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Alex Berenson has created the John Wells character who is not dissimilar from the Mitch Rapp creation by Vince Flynn. However, on the Wells character, Berenson has not fully developed a personality that engages the reader. The storyline is good enough, but the modern thriller formula is in full swing: pages 1-50 are the introduction and reference the past stories, 50-150 introduce the bad guys occasionally getting back to the good guys, mixed in is an event that is the catalyst to the story. Then half way through the book begin getting into the good stuff. I found myself skipping quickly through the write ups of why each Muslim decided to hate Americans. The first 200 pages could have been reduced to 25 and moved right into the meat of the story. Let's face it, it isn't the writing style that makes us want to read these types of stories, it's the story telling.

However, this thriller never really engages the reader in the meat and potatoes of the story either. It is contrived and stretched into something that doesn't feel real or exciting. I found myself hurrying through the book just to get to the end and to see what happened. There wasn't anything along the way that I found interesting or compelling. The characters were cardboard and standard issue. Some of the dialogue between Exley and Wells was forced.

There are many serial character storylines out there. This is just another that could be plugged and played with the others. Nothing special here, but if you are so inclined, it is a quick beach read.

Over the last several months, I have read the thee John Wells novels that Alex Berenson has written. In Wells, Alex has created a character that is sure to be in the list of great recurring spy characters.
In The Silent Man, John Wells is pitted against terrorists who have acquired two bombs from Russia and are planning to set a bomb off on US soil. Wells, a CIA operative who we meet in the first Alex Berenson novel as having infiltrated Al Qaeda, becomes involved when chasing down a nemesis from the second book. Wells is in a race against time as nuclear destruction is about to be inflicted on the US.
The CIA often does not know what to do with Wells, who "goes off the ranch" from time to time.
The writing of Berenson is taut and this book and the other Wells books are page turners. Highly recommended reading.

In the DC area CIA Agents John Wells and Jennifer Exley are driving to work when traffic comes to a standstill because of accidents on two bridges. John thinks it is too much of a happenstance and quickly is proven right when three assassins on motorcycles start shooting at them. They kill their attackers, but Exley is critically wounded in the crossfire. When he knows she will live, John goes to Russia to obtain proof that arms dealer Pierre Kowalski put out the hit on him for embarrassing him and marking his face in a duel years ago.

The mission fails but Kowalski is deathly afraid that Wells will come after him. In Russia, two nuclear warheads are stolen from the secure Facility in Ozersk and placed on board a freighter heading to Canada where Jihadists wait for the arrival to drive them into the States. They intend to nuke DC on Inauguration Day led by Sayyid Nadiji whose family was killed during the Iraq War and occupation. Kowalski is asked to deliver beryllium to give to a third party who will supply it to those targeting Washington. He tells Wells to maintain the peace between them. John runs with the information, which is the first step in finding and preventing Jihadists from devastating DC.

This is an invigorating thriller that will frighten readers as the scenario is plausible with the terrorists capable of the theft, delivery, and destruction on a scale that could make 9/11, London and Madrid seem minor. John is a dedicated agent risking his life to keep the world safe while his beloved Exley wants him out of the deadly field game that he cannot walk away from even if it means losing her. Fans will enjoy the latest spy thriller, as Alex Berenson continues to deliver top rate realistic tales (see THE GHOST WAR and FAITHFUL SPY) on a par with Le Carre and Silva.

Harriet Klausner

With his third book in his series featuring John Wells, Berenson reinforces his deserved position of being one of today's elite spy thriller writers. In The Silent Man, master CIA agent Wells is exhausted from his undercover work in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the attack on the US, and the Chinese plot that could have led to war. However, Wells knows he has no time to rest, as he once again has become involved in saving the country from an attack being planned of almost unimaginable consequences. In typical Berenson fashion, The Silent Man is well-written, exciting and very true-to-life. Further, his primary and secondary characters are highly believable and interesting. You really get a sense of being right there with the characters as the action is unfolding. The one criticism I had with The Silent Man (resulting in my giving the book a 4-star vs. a 5-star rating) is that it spent too much time in describing the many details involved in creating a nuclear device. While Berenson clearly did his homework in this area, it, for me, served to slow down the intensity of the plot. Despite this factor, The Silent Man is definitely worth reading and a "must read" for those who have read and enjoyed Berenson's first two books, The Faithful Spy (my personal favorite) and The Ghost War. It will keep you engrossed from beginning to end. For potential new readers to this series, I'd recommend that you hold up on reading The Silent Man until after reading the two other books in sequence.

In Alex Berenson's "The Silent Man," fanatical jihadists are planning to unleash a deadly weapon on American soil. Fortunately, the CIA has John Wells, who speaks fluent Arabic, is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry, and is unafraid to risk his life. His recklessness does not sit well with his bosses or with his girlfriend and colleague, Jennifer Exley. Nevertheless, John believes that the hidebound bureaucracy in Langley is too slow to respond when the fate of the free world is at stake. Therefore, he ignores his superiors' tongue-lashings and Jennifer's pleas.

"The Silent Man" is a conventional spy thriller with a large number of villains and very few heroes. The one-dimensional characters include a fabulously wealthy Russian arms dealer who enjoys rich food, a life of ease, and the attentions of a gorgeous supermodel; several young Arabs whose personal losses have made them bitter and eager for revenge; and various civil servants in the intelligence community who order Wells to obey the chain of command instead of going it alone. This is all familiar territory that has been covered many times before.

To his credit, Berenson has done his homework. He gives detailed background information about Russian nukes and vividly describes both the endemic corruption in Russia and the huge financial chasm between the oligarchs and the country's ordinary citizens. In addition, the author brings home the frightening vulnerability of the Western powers to acts of terror. There is enough action to satisfy adrenaline junkies, with chase scenes, gunplay, grisly violence, and a frantic race against time. However, the dialogue is trite and the story is so predictable that it becomes tedious well before its foregone conclusion. "The Silent Man" breaks little new ground in a well-worn genre.

I have read and enjoyed Berenson's first two titles, but was skeptical because I felt that the conclusion to the second Wells novel telgraphed the plot of this third go-round. Namely, Wells (and the reader) can expect arms dealer Pierre Kowalski to come after Wells, his lady friend and sometime CIA partner Exley, and the US.

And, he does. But, very early in the book, and then Berenson takes the plot in what for me was an unexpected direction. We are not subject to a sort of Dr. No, mano-a-mano story that I feared. So, strictly on plot, I was pleasantly surprised.

Beyond that, some other pleasant surprises. Berenson proves to be conversant in some of the finer points of nuclear weapons technology, helpful since the story centers around a smuggled Russian nuke.

Also, he does something rarely seen in post-9/11 espionage novels: humanizes the Islamic terrorists. We see them with their families, we are fly on the wall for intimate and affectionate sexual moments with their wives, we even are afforded an omniscience that reveals their misgivings about the destruction they plan and the remorse they feel for the innocents that will be victims.

By contrast, Wells himself is rather a shallow character, and the distance from Exley in this work doesn't help. He becomes overly libidinous and there is little further exploration of his past (Ivy Leaguer, Muslim convert) in ways that might mine the biography that has been laid out.

Take heed, two nuclear weapons have been stolen from a Russian nuclear complex.

In Zurich, arms dealer, Pierre Kowalski wants revenge for what CIA agent John Wells did to him when he forced information from him in Long Island. Now Kowalski has paid a man named Markov to kill Wells.

The plan is to strike when Wells travels to his office.

Unaware of the sinister forces plotting his demise, Wells is driving to work with his fiancee, Jennifer Exley. Suddenly, there's a traffic snarl. Being a CIA agent with well tuned preservation skills, he senses danger as a motorcycle passes him and another is approaching, weaving in and out of traffic. His quick thinking enables him to dispatch the assassins, but Jennifer is badly wounded.

In another part of this complex plot, near Ramadi, Iraq, Sayyed Nasiji plots with Sheik Ahmed Faisal. Their goal is to purchase the necessary materials and assemble a bomb in the United States. They want United States to feel what Iraq has gone through.

The fast moving story has Wells intent on getting revenge on Kowalski. However, when Kowalksy comes across some news about the nuclear weapons, he feels that he can trade it to Wells for the promise of his safety.

The goal of a thriller is to provide adventure and suspense and Alex Berenson has done so, admirably in this novel. Wells continues to be an excellent protagonist and the plot, though complex, was well written. The action was there and the story was vastly entertaining.

I've read all of Berenson's books. I enjoyed the first one, thought the second one was OK, and struggled with this one, The Silent Man. Without getting into too much detail, let's just say that one of the keys to a good techno-thriller is plausibility. That is, the events can't happen by magic -- the sequence of plot elements should be related by some form of logic. And in this book Berenson writes himself into corners, and then invents implausible characters or impossible luck to compensate for these dilemmas. And there should be a least a reasonable attempt to help the reader believe in the technical details that are important to the story. The last straw for me was the notion that a carefully planned attempt to build an atomic bomb would involve characters handling uranium and plutonium with their bare hands, for an extended period, without becoming ill.

The Silent Man is Alex Berensen's third installment in the series featuring CIA agent John Wells. I originally picked up Berensen's initial work, The Faithful Spy, on a whim and have been hooked ever since. Despite the plethora of works out there today that touch on al-Queda and terrorism, Berenson is able to spin a believable and intriguing story that did not feel repetitive. The Wells character, along with fellow-agent Jennifer Exley and the other characters continue to grow across the novels. In this case, Wells and Exley are quickly pulled into tracking down a terrorist plot that shatters their hopes for a saner and less dangerous life together. Start to finish, this work moved along with pace. Berenson effectively uses plot twists and unexpected action to keep the reader engaged and turning the pages. If you have been wondering about whether to take a chance with a new author, give Beresen's works a shot. I recommend, however, that you read the predecessor books in order prior to tackling The Silent Man. While each work could stand on its own, they are clearer better taken in sequence.

Saving the world is hard. Doing it convincingly book after book must be a huge challenge. This is the third John Wells thriller, and Berenson manages to give us a more convincing hero than in the second installment.

The first in the series, The Faithful Spy, was amazing. The second book was a second book. Here Berenson allows Wells to develop believably, still at odds with his American culture, although with nothing said about his faith. (Wells converted to Islam while spending years under cover in Afghanistan. In the second book, he moves into more secular mind-set, and here all we hear about is not eating pork - superficial stuff.)

John Wells has a bad case of the super-hero-blues: he feels that he and only he can save the world.

I wish he enjoyed it more. While not as dark as parts of the second book, there's a lot of navel-staring angst here. But the quality of the writing carries the reader through the self-indulgent parts. At times the prose is positively lyrical - especially in the passages on the intersections between cultural agendas and place -- in Cairo, in Hamburg, and where Wells thinks about America as he re-enters the country.

Berenson does shifting point of view very well. We move from Wells' head to the heads of various plotting men -- plotting willingly and under duress - to the minds of desk-spies. (Berenson has a great talent for depicting the bad guys. They are understandable and even sympathetic without tempting the reader over to their side.) There is a bad moment when the omniscient third shifts from one plotter to another - I spent several chapters being confused in Elmira - but even that resolves.) The mind we don't get inside is Exley's. When I reviewed the second book, I wished that we might hear more from her -- Wells' lover and CIA comrade -- and I'm sad to see that we hear considerably less. She's barely on stage.

But that's a matter of personal taste. The novel does a good job of showing the American intelligence services as deeply flawed but basically a force for good. That's a nice relief for US readers who have been battered recently by the latest John Le Carre and the 6th season of Spooks (MI5 over here.) I like the illusion that we live in a benign universe.

I'm giving this 5 with the understanding that The Faithful Spy would get 6 stars.