Dead Line

In the newest entry in one of the better contemporary spy series, highlighting the activities of Liz Carlyle and her co-workers at Britain's MI5, "Dead Line" focuses on the Mideast situation. A conference is scheduled in Scotland for talks between the heads of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Israel. And naturally, intelligence information indicates there will be an attempt at a violent disruption of the conference, blame to be placed on Syria. And once again it is Liz to the rescue, chasing after all sorts of clues, both*- false and true, relying more on her own instinct than on real intelligence-gathering. That is not to say that a real look at the intelligence apparatus is not provided by the author, who was the first woman to serve as Director General of MI5. MI5, MI6, and the CIA are all involved, along with various security forces, including the Secret Service, and local police guarding the Scottish resort where the meeting is to be held. Written with a sure knowledge of the subject, the plot is a lot different from the standard spy story, all to the good. The characterizations are vivid, and the prose flows, and it is recommended.

M16 Agent Templeton in Cyprus reports that a contact Abboud insists Syrian deputy director of dreaded Idarat al-Mukhabarat Tibshirani believes that a London based Lebanese expatriate Sami Veshara and Chris Marcham intend to devastate the upcoming Middle East peace conference being held in Scotland. Disrupting efforts is expected by most counterterrorist groups, but what makes this allegation different is that the credit (and consequently the blame) will be given to Syria. With the leaders from the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iran participating, MI5 officer Liz Carlyle is assigned to investigate the plausibility and if affirmed who they belong to. As she follows leads, Liz fears time is running out. Clues either go nowhere or lead to more questions. She begins to revise her theory from these two nonentities to hypothesize whether the original source is using a ploy to cause some other unknown havoc although why remains out of reach. Liz knows a major incident could lead to devastating chaos in the Middle East and the end of peace negotiations for years to come. This is a great espionage thriller that readers will fully appreciate. Thirtyish Liz is at her best in her latest tale (see At Risk, Illegal Action and Secret Asset) trying to connect dots that not only do not link but add more points to the increasingly convoluted equation. Readers will join Liz as she races to prevent a disaster but by whom and why remain just outside her analysis. Harriet Klausner