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Summary
Summary
From a hidden enclave in the maze of Tehran, an Iranian scientist who calls himself "Dr. Ali" sends an encrypted message to the CIA. It falls to Harry Pappas to decide if it's for real. Dr. Ali sends more secrets of the Iranian bomb program to the agency, then panics. He's being followed, but he doesn't know who's onto him, and neither does Pappas. The White House is no help--they're looking for a pretext to attack Tehran.
To get his agent out, Pappas turns to a secret British spy team known as "The Increment," whose operatives carry the modern version of the double-O "license to kill." But the real story here is infinitely more complicated than he understands, and to get to the bottom of it he must betray his own country.
The Increment is The Spy Who Came In from the Cold set in Iran, with a dose of Graham Greene's The Human Factor to highlight the subtleties of betrayal.
Author Notes
David Ignatius was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 26, 1950. He received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1963 and a diploma in economics from Kings College, Cambridge, England, in 1975. He has worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post, where he is an associate editor. In 1985, he received the Edward Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. He is the author of several novels including Agents of Innocence, Siro, The Bank of Fear, A Firing Offense, Body of Lies, The Increment, and The Director.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Ignatius (Body of Lies) explores America's escalating cold war with Iran in a thriller sure to draw comparisons to le Carre's The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. When Harry Pappas, the new CIA chief of the Iran Operations Division, receives an unsolicited e-mail from an alleged Tehran scientist who calls himself "Dr. Ali" that implies Iran has in fact continued with its nuclear weapons program and is "an imminent threat to global peace," he shares the information with his superiors only to find an administration bent on warmongering. Having vowed never again to play a role in a senseless conflict that could potentially kill thousands of innocents, Pappas, whose only son was killed while serving in the second Iraq War, must somehow identify Dr. Ali, get him out of Iran and mine his knowledge before the U.S. blunders into another unnecessary war. While the realistic story lines build to a somewhat predictable ending, this remains a page-turner of the highest order. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Washington Post columnist Ignatius follows up his best-selling Body of Lies (2007) with another timely espionage novel. This time the subject is Iran's nuclear program. The CIA has zero assets in Iran until a message is sent to the agency's Web site that indicates that the Iranians are making real progress toward a bomb. It falls to veteran spy Harry Pappas to identify the sender and weigh the validity of the information, while the bellicose White House gears up for war. Pappas is disheartened and disaffected; he knew the Iraq War would be a disaster, and he lost his marine son there. To carry out his assignment, he must go rogue and seek the aid of British intelligence. Ignatius has been writing about the CIA and the Middle East for several decades, and his descriptions of espionage tradecraft, CIA shortcomings and turf battles, and Tehran's schizoid teeter between modernity and nearly medieval repression are vivid, believable, and engrossing. Thriller devotees will devour The Increment, and its ripped-from-the-headlines subject matter may well attract both talk shows and off-the-book-page features.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2009 Booklist
Guardian Review
When Dr Ali, an Iranian scientist, makes contact with the CIA, offering information which suggests Iran is close to developing a working nuclear bomb, veteran officer Harry Pappas is alarmed as well as thrilled. If this "virtual walk-in" is genuine, he will be a coup for the beleaguered agency. But Pappas knows only too well the value of caution - his own son was killed in Iraq. To stop hawks within the administration starting a pre-emptive war with Iran, Harry seeks out an old friend in MI6. It's he who proposes mobilising the Increment, a top-secret black ops unit . . . Washington Post journalist Ignatius's previous novel, Body of Lies , was filmed last year by Ridley Scott. The Increment is equally well paced and suspenseful, and the attention to local detail (downtown Tehran is rendered as vividly as top-level CIA briefings) convincing enough to excuse the occasional stereotype. Caption: article-junethrills.2 When Dr Ali, an Iranian scientist, makes contact with the CIA, offering information which suggests Iran is close to developing a working nuclear bomb, veteran officer Harry Pappas is alarmed as well as thrilled. If this "virtual walk-in" is genuine, he will be a coup for the beleaguered agency. - John O'Connell.
Kirkus Review
Another taut, believable thriller from Washington Post columnist Ignatius (Body of Lies, 2007, etc.), who pits a world-weary CIA agent against an administration looking for any reason to go to war. The thrill of fieldwork has long left CIA veteran Harry Pappas. He's done it all, seen it all and lost a piece of himself in the process. Now stationed at headquarters in D.C., running the agency's efforts to stay on top of Iran, Pappas cloisters himself with his small staff and monitors Teheran's nuclear capabilities. It's all pretty much business as usual, until a message from an unexpected inside source sets off a rush to judgment. Harry, still reeling from a personal loss, plays on an old relationship and takes a desperate gamble that leads him to the Increment, a British team that will risk everything in this complicated story of spies, diplomacy and nuclear confrontations. Deploying his considerable storytelling skills, the author once again immerses readers in a totally believable universe. Jargon, geography and detail all ring true as his meticulously crafted, tightly woven tale moves from Washington to London and Iran. The plot grabs everything in its path like a snowball rolling down a hill. As the action unfolds, Pappas proves both a capable protagonist and a man of principal: Rumpled and analytical, he has no delusions about his colleagues at the CIA and other intelligence services, but his sense of right and wrong compels him to keep trying to make a difference. Ignatius matches dead-on dialogue to an increasingly complicated plot without sacrificing clarity. A thinking person's thriller with a timely take on recent international politics. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Can a heartsore and weary CIA veteran juice up fresh, meaty intelligence from buttoned-down Tehran? Does his trusted Secret Intelligence Service colleague have an inside track, and will he share? Who really holds the cards on the nuclear weapons story in Iran? Ignatius (Body of Lies), the Washington Post columnist whose knowledge of spydom and exotic places brilliantly illuminates his espionage novels, imagines an Iran where a young physicist is ready to turn his back on the regime. Agent Harry Pappas works out a plausible lifeline, and the adventure begins. Ignatius floods his latest book with highlights of technology while exploring the dark heart of human betrayal with menacing ambiguity. This masterful and modern-day account of a realistic nuclear threat has already been sold to movie moguls and will be heavily promoted. A sure bet for all thriller collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09.]-Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
