The Amateur Spy

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the central character is not always engaging. But I think Fesperman intends this. Freeman Lockheart (there's a deliberate choice of name) is as slippery with the reader as he is with the other characters and his descriptions of his past. Thought-provoking on many levels. Definitely worth the 4 stars.

THE AMATEUR SPY is one of those novels that at various points leaves a reader torn between rapidly turning the pages and throwing the book across the room. By turns intriguing and confounding, it reflects our time and our world --- neither of which are pretty --- in a story that is ultimately intriguing but requires one too many leaps of faith. Freeman Lockhart wants nothing more than to retire from his humanitarian aid work and withdraw from the world with his wife Mila to a small, almost pastoral Greek island. Their idyllic existence never really gets off the ground; their first night on the island is interrupted by three men who subject Freeman to a stiff-legged recruitment pitch for spying on Omar al-Baroody, a Palestinian with whom Freeman had worked and subsequently befriended several years before. Omar is ostensibly involved in a fund-raising project in Jordan to build a much-needed hospital, but may or may not be tied to something more nefarious. The prod for Freeman's cooperation is blackmail; he has a secret that he has long kept from Mila, supposedly for her own good, and her continued ignorance is the coin that his mysterious recruiters are willing to pay. Freeman is easily --- almost too easily --- able to insert himself into Omar's fund-raising operation, where he finds that his old friend is indeed involved in things above and beyond humanitarian causes. Yet Freeman himself is in way over his head; he is caught between factions, governmental and otherwise, with his every move scrutinized by shadowy figures who seem to be operating at cross-purposes to each other. Meanwhile, in a Washington, D.C. suburb, Abbas Rahim, a prominent Palestinian-American surgeon and his wife Aliyah continue working through the grief occasioned by the accidental death of their daughter one year ago. Abbas blames, somewhat improbably, the post-9/11 posture of the United States government and, inspired by a radio report of a terrorist act abroad, cooks up a bloody revenge of his own. Aliyah, horrified by her husband's plot, is determined to stop him. So she travels to Jordan for the apparent purpose of acquiring the expertise that Abbas needs to carry out his misguided revenge. Aliyah finds, however, that her actions have only served to clear the way for Abbas to execute his plan. Aliyah's path barely, almost imperceptibly, intersects with Freeman's. Yet it may or may not be enough to prevent the occurrence of Abbas's plan, which, if successful, will dramatically change the complexion of world politics. Dan Fesperman's writing continues to be compelling. But where THE AMATEUR SPY gets snagged is upon the motives of its principal characters. The event that Freeman so desperately wishes to keep secret from his wife (which I am deliberately not revealing), while a horrible one, ultimately has little to do with their actions and everything to do with those of the terrorists. It is a stretch, to say the least, to hold the Lockharts accountable in any way. Th

Aid workers Freeman and Mila Lockhart are enjoying the first night of their well-earned retirement to an idyllic Greek Island when intruders burst in, rousting them from bed and carrying off Freeman, leaving one of their number to guard hotheaded Mila. The men, practiced professionals, present him with an ultimatum - spy on an old friend or they will expose a secret involving his - and Mila's - African aid work. Unsavory characters go with the territory in aid work, but Freeman, 55, is protective of his 37-year-old Bosnian wife. The old friend, Omar al-Baroody, is a Palestinian setting up a charity in Jordan to build a hospital for a refugee camp. Freeman, working as his program director, is to find out where the money is coming from and where it's really going. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a doctor, Abbas Rahim, crazed with grief over the death of his daughter, plots revenge while his wife does all she can to subtly derail him, including a trip to Jordan, a delaying tactic disguised as assistance. Fesperman, whose thoughtful, award-winning thrillers ("The Small Boat of Great Sorrows," "The Prisoner of Guantanamo") have been set all over the world, knows the morass of mid-East politics, hatred and factions. Juggling loyalties, suspicious of everyone, and way out of his depth, Freeman spies, eavesdrops and surveils to the best of his ability, enmeshing himself deeper in a tangled web of conspiracy, betrayal, terrorism and the posturing of politics. Fesperman once again proves himself a master of intrigue and authenticity, underlining the sobering reality that nothing is simple in the Middle East.

After years working in the world's most dangerous spots as an aid worker, fifty-five year old Freeman Lockhart retires. He and his thirty-something Bosnian spouse Mila take residence on the island of Karos in the Aegean Sea. However, on their very first night, three home invaders abduct Freeman. They demand he do their bidding. He is to go to Jordon to spy on a former aid co-worker Omar al-Baroody. If he refuses, they will publicly destroy him and his wife by revealing his darkest secret involving his spouse when they worked in Africa. Stunned, he travels to Amman while in Washington, D.C. Dr. Abbas Rahim plans a terrorist attack that ties back to Freeman's Jordanian mission. THE AMATEUR SPY is a superb espionage thriller and the audience will show their appreciation by reading it in one entranced sitting. Freeman is terrific as the title character blackmailed into a scenario that is out of his skill level but failure is unacceptable as he knows the price. Fans will sympathize and root for him while watching him bungle his way through a dangerous mission in which he knows no matter what he does someone will die. Harriet Klausner

Retreating from the frustrations and disillusions of aid work in Bosnia, Africa and the Middle East, Freeman Lockhart and his thirty-seven year old wife, Mila, a Bosnian, hope to recapture some measure of peace on the Aegean island of Karos. But on the first night in their refuge, three intruders interrupt their idyllic home, bringing back the turmoil of the past as a lever to induce Freeman to travel to Amman, Jordan, to work with a former friend and aid co-worker, Omar Al-Baroody. Omar is organizing plans for a hospital in the Bakaa Refugee Camp, accumulating funds from private donors. Lockhart is to investigate every aspect of his old friend's new venture. Years of experience with NGOs have taught Freeman the moral ambiguities of servicing countries where vast sums of money change hands, the endemic corruption and endless bribery that plague the system. Lockhart has made mistakes along the way, youthful idealism morphing into a weary cynicism that takes him to the edge of reason, brought back to humanity by Mila's care. Now the past has intruded again and Freeman is determined to keep the personal cost to a minimum. In Jordan, nothing is as it appears, no one trustworthy. Meeting Omar again is bittersweet, a shared history and the suggestion of misdeeds tainting the experience. Putting his doubts aside, Lockhart scours Omar's office after hours with an eye to useful information, funneling details to his handlers. The problem is that Lockhart is never sure who he is representing, his government or another clandestine agency, all obsessed with terrorist activities. Worrying about the identity of his handlers, Freeman doubts the viability of extricating himself from a mission more suspect by the day, an "amateur" spy out of his depth in a dangerous place. Contacting old friends from his years in the field, the cast of characters grows more mysterious and troublesome, a mélange of government interests and local politics, a German physician, the American embassy, assorted strangers who spy on his every move, and that of Mila in Athens and an Arab-American woman who arrives in Jordan on an inexplicable mission that Freeman belatedly learns may have a terrible impact in the states. The author captures the internal complications of the Middle East, from Jordan to Jerusalem to Greece, years of aid work hardly preparing the protagonist for a world of missed chances and dangerous passions, a world he chose to leave for before it destroyed him. Floundering, Lockhart follows his somewhat rusty instincts, sometimes evading pursuers but caught in the crossfire of unforeseen events and the clever players who manipulate the strings of an unfolding drama. Wearied by his efforts to make a difference, unprepared for the intricacies of spy-craft and the devastating consequences on his future with Mila, Freeman faces an impossible task in a place where all the answers are subject to interpretation. That he does so with great courage is a testament to a commitment