(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

>An Al Qaeda prisoner named Ali Zattout is moved from Guantánamo Bay to a CIA safe house for observation and interrogation. He is smart, cooperative, and thoroughly Westernized -but is he too good to be true? The man who must question him, Dr. Louis Finney, regrets his days spent working for the U.S. Government. Years have passed since he and his mentor performed experiments designed to develop multiple personalities in unsuspecting patients, but only recently have his guilty nightmares begun to subside. Now his mentor appears on Finney's doorstep, terminally ill, asking him to consult for a critically important CIA case.
But the CIA isn't the only group interested in Zattout's information. His capture has aroused concerns at the highest ranks of Al Qaeda. An assassin schooled in ancient arts of meditation and murder is sent to eliminate Zattout before he discloses their secrets. The CIA safe house is as heavily guarded as the secret of its location, but Zattout is not the only traitor within its walls

*2.5 stars*

Spies and espionage novels have been making a bit of a comeback in popularity - at least in our bookstore. So this book came up for reading so I took the opportunity to give it a go and see if this was something I could recommend to my customers.

On one hand, this was a fascinating look at the processes of interrogating suspects without resorting to violence. An awkward subplot about an assassin was going to add some depth to the story but, in fact, only detracted from it. While I thought Finney was a decently written character, the same can't be said for the rest of the "cast."

But the biggest letdown for me was the fact that nothing really happens. Lots of things "almost" happen but, for the most part, it is a very uneventful novel.


Paul
ARH