Customer Reviews

The Tehran Conviction

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I concur with all that the previous reviewer has written so I only wish to elaborate on one point. What we are seeing, hearing and reading about in Iran in June, 2009 and why it is important that the U.S. is not seen to be meddling in their election is all excitingly and suspensefully portrayed in The Tehran Conviction. All one needs to know about Operation Ajax led by Kermit Roosevelt and it's sequence of unintended consequences for ensuing generations is laid out in this most topical and entertaining political thriller. You will not be disappointed.

The latest reliably compelling Jack Teller book once again finds him, perhaps improbably, right in the middle of CIA doings in Iran in both the 50s and 70s. Once disbelief is suspended, you can sit back with another enjoyable but tense thriller that's populated (but not over-burdened) with telling historical detail as well as brisk action.

This is a thriller written in the style of a Raymond Chandler novel. Very fast paced w/ very realistic characters. Gives a great deal of insight into whats transpiring in Iran right now. My only complaint is that it wraps up a little to tidy.

In 1953 rookie CIA espionage agent Jack Teller is in Iran posing as an American oil executive. There he makes friends with Iranian government official Yari Fatemi, who is optimistic about the future of his country under the recent free election of Mohammad Mossadegh as Prime Minister. Mossadegh nationalizes the oil industry in an attempt to improve the overall economy, alienating the free marketers of the west. However, not too long afterward he betrays his buddy and his Iranian family as part of the British-American covert Operation Ajax that overthrows the nation's democratically elected Prime Minister and reinstates the figurehead Shah as the prime power.

Over the years Jack has felt remorse and guilt for what he did to his Iranian friend. So in 1979 when the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini overthrows the Shah, he is shocked when Yari's sister Zahra, whose eyes accuse him of murder, visits him in New York. She tells him Yari is in prison awaiting state execution. Needing a chance for redemption or die trying, Jack obsesses over returning to Iran to somewhat rectify the betrayal that haunts him twenty-six years after the fact.

The third Teller espionage thriller (see THE BERLIN CONSPIRACY and THE LISBON CROSSING) is a great spy tale that also provides a deep look at two of the three key latter half of the twentieth century events that has shaped current Iranian-American relations. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action in both periods, but its Jack and Yari who bring human faces to both coup d'etat incidents. This may be the best spy novel of the year as Tom Gabbay provides an exciting thriller that also provides the Iranian perspective of the axis of evil is "The Great Satan" (USA) and Britain.

Harriet Klausner

Author Tom Gabbay pens another winner in this third Jack Teller novel. This time the year is 1979 when Teller is approached by an old Iranian acquaintance Zahra Fatemi. Her brother, Yari, has been imprisoned and Zahra implores Teller to use his CIA connections to try to get him freed. Teller's relationship with Yari goes back to 1953 when, as a new CIA recruit, he befriended Yari as part of a subversive CIA attempt to overthrow Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Reluctantly, Teller goes back to Iran where he becomes embroiled in Ayatollah Khomeini's Iranian hostage crisis. As Teller works on Yari's release he recounts the events of 1953.

Gabbay reveals a darker side of the CIA as the agency details its strategy to overthrow the government of a sovereign nation. Sadly, that portion of the book is not fiction. However, that also underscored how that event became the genesis of the United States becoming the Great Satan and ultimately contributing to future events like the hostage crisis.

"The Tehran Conviction" is another enthralling thriller which should not be missed.

In 1953, Jack Teller goes to Tehran as a new recruit to the newly organized CIA. Under the cover of an influential oil executive, Jack Teller's mission includes making contacts to serve the CIA's goal of influence on the Iranian government during the height of the Cold War. Jack makes contact with Yari Fatemi and his sister Zahra. Yari Fatemi has high hopes that Prime Monister Mohammed Mossadegh is a great man, a man able to bring to Iran a sense of independence from colonialism to creating a society that will honor the rich history of the country and bring human rights to its people. The CIA's mission to overthrow Mossadegh, however, puts Jack at odds with the friendship the two men share. Twenty-six years later, Iran stands on the brink of a religious revolution. Zahra approaches Jack, begging him to help her brother. In an unofficial mission, much like those of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, in which if discovered, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of the mission, Jack enters a new Iran where the chaos of revolution in a bold, daring attempt to save the very man he betrayed years earlier.

Tom Gabbay's THE TEHRAN CONVICTION is an exceptional historical spy thriller! Tom Gabbay reaches into CIA history to create a thriller that sheds light not only on past events but also one that gives an excellent chilling background to recent events. Tom Gabbay places his fictional characters within real historic events and surrounds them with real historical figures. Tom Gabbay also does an excellent job at balancing the particulars of Iranian history with the overarching background of the Cold War. THE TEHRAN CONVICTION is fast-paced spy fiction that alternates between the two main time periods.

As spy fiction, THE TEHRAN CONVICTION brings the reader right into the heart of the story through the characters of Jack Teller and Yari Fatemi. Yari is young, optimistic and idealistic. Jack Teller is a man loyal to the mission but one who also questions those around him. Despite his loyalty to his country and the CIA's mission, he sees the dangers if not ridiculousness of some of CIA's aims. Donaldson, a character Jack meets later in the book, is a perfect complement to Jack, each bringing out the depth in each other. The later daring mission keeps a reader on pins and needles with several turns and twists. Tom Gabbay writes outstanding spy fiction with all the ingredients to keep a reader locked in until the last page. Fast, dangerous, bold action joins with a more thoughtful insight into politics and indeed human nature itself through the richness of character depth. Tom Gabbay's twists on idealism and realism are exquisite! THE TEHRAN CONVICTION is a perfect dance between subversion and betrayal, leaving a reader on edge, never quite expecting the clever twists around the next corner. What an ending --- it leaves a reader thinking with just the slightest chill to send shivers throughout!

It's been a very long time since I have read spy fiction so thoroughly satisfying or as awesome as Tom Gabbay's THE TEHRAN CONVICTION. If like this reader, you tend to avoid recent spy novels set in the Mideast having found so much television and recent thrillers too realistic or not realistic enough, shallow and one-dimensional, a reader need not have such qualms about Tom Gabbay's THE TEHRAN CONVICTION. I received this book as a gift so I tried it. Am I ever glad I did! The night I finished it, I immediately ordered the author's two previous books. If you love rich spy suspense, Tom Gabbay is a must read. Outstanding!

Courtesy of Book Illuminations

Are you glued to the post-election news reports in Iran? If so, you can pick up a good deal of back story and historical context in Tom Gabbay's latest novel of suspense, The Tehran Connection. Political thriller meets historical reality in this chilling story of corruption and manipulation.

In 1953, Teller finds himself in Tehran, posing as a high-level American oil executive in the newly formed CIA's first attempt to overthrow Iran's government. Torn between loyalty to his country and sympathy for Iran's struggle to maintain a thriving democracy, Teller must ultimately decide who to betray.

In 1979, the daughter of an Iranian, who Teller knew in 1953, asks for his help. Her father is confined in an Iranian prison and she needs Teller to secure his release. Returning to a country now caught controlled by religious revolutionaries, he is appalled by the intimidation he sees.

The Tehran Connection is fast-paced, eye opening, and sometimes violent. It's also gripping. Told against a background of real incidents and fueled by American arrogance, Gabbay's vivid storytelling brings American motivations to life. If you like suspense and international intrigue, you don't want to miss The Tehran Conviction.

This review originally appeared on Writer Advice, [...]

You Want Me to Do What?

Tom Gabbay has written an entertaining page-turner that takes the reader to Tehran during two tense historic periods: the 1953 CIA-driven coup d'etat of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh and the 1979 mullah-driven take over the US Embassy.

Jack Teller is back for the third time (The Lisbon Crossingand The Berlin Conspiracy), but The Tehran Conviction shows his initiation into the fledgling CIA. The reader meets some colorful characters among his fellow spooks, including the real life Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. as the agent in charge of Operation Ajax. He also particularly befriends an Iranian brother and sister. The brother happens to be a close associate of Mossadegh, which is of more than passing interest to Teller et al.

In 1979, he is drawn back to Tehran on a hopeless unofficial mission to spring the same Iranian from the notorious Qasr prison. He pays a call to the US Embassy and has the misfortune to be there just when the takeover occurs.

Gabbay details the ways and means used in Operation Ajax and I found that part of the book quite interesting. He does not do the same with the hostage taking. His portrayal of Islamic mullahs is cartoonish. The Tehran Conviction is an entertaining diversion that falls short of the better works from the spy genre.

This is the third adventure of Jack Teller. Jack is a cagey, efficient CIA agent with a little attitude, a dark sense of humor and a pragmatic but real patriotism. As with the previous two Teller books, Jack gives us a first hand account of his behind the scenes involvement in historical events. In The Tehran Conviction these events include the Shah of Iran's rise to power in 1953 and the 1979 Iranian/US hostage crisis with Jack right in the middle of both. Jack is somewhere between James Bond and George Smiley, think of Bruce Willis as an intelligence officer. These books are action packed with historical tidbits all carried along by Jack's sardonic sense of humor and jaded but realistic view of the world. Recommended.

I found the Tehran Conviction to be an engaging story centered around the involvement of the United States Government in Iran. The story is based on the fledgeling Iranian government after the ouster of the British and then the ultimate overthrow of the Shah in 1979 leading to the hostage situation. The subject matter was engaging and made the book easy to read and left me anxious for more.