SYNOPSIS

THIS superb debut novel by David McCloskey, a former CIA Analyst, is one of the most striking fictional thriller stories since Mick Herron’s magnificent Slow Horses in 2010.

Not only does it ooze authenticity, with some rather exacting details of what it takes to recruit someone to spy against their country (a charge of Treason), it also includes a love story to pierce the heart.

This is not the dark, anguished world of Greene or Le Carré, this is a brilliant evocation of the perils and dangers espionage poses to a young man who is not afraid to show emotion. It is set against the civil war in Syria.

CIA officer Sam Joseph is sent to Paris in the hope of recruiting Mariam Haddad, an official in the Palace of President Assad, with access to many systems and secrets. When the two meet, they fall in love, which brings the treacherous world of espionage into sharp focus. Who is to be trusted and by whom?

Painstakingly detailed and narrated, yet told with exceptional literary flair, it identifies McCloskey as an exciting new voice in espionage. Readers of Damascus Station should relish every page, the story demands it.

– Damascus Station by David McCloskey is published by Swift, 432pp