The Exile

I enjoyed this book but it is the last from this author, as noted below: On March 18, 2008, Britton died at the age of 27 of an undiagnosed heart condition in Durham, North Carolina. He was survived by his mother Annie (Britton) Nice, stepfather Graham Nice, and his two siblings Christopher Vine- Britton and Roxanne Nice. Andrew Vine-Britton is interred in the Veteran's section of Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.

There has been too long a period of time between the publication of THE INVISIBLE and Andrew Britton's new book, THE EXILE. As those familiar with Britton's work might expect, however, it is well worth the wait. Ryan Kealey, an ex-Special Forces operator and former CIA agent, is an outwardly confident, inwardly tortured soul who would rather be left alone. He nonetheless is possessed of a skill set that does not permit that state of existence, as THE EXILE so demonstrates. Britton's literary style lends itself wonderfully to the thriller genre. He is an intelligent and sharp writer who is able to pluck minute details out of a big picture, providing information while evoking emotion. So it is that this book begins with an atrocity so graphically described that it cannot help but fill the reader with outrage. The specific event is fiction, of course, yet it is well documented that occurrences of the sort described take place on all-too-regular a frequency. In the case of THE EXILE, Lily Durant, a young woman working selflessly as a nurse in West Darfur of the Sudan is beaten, raped repeatedly, and murdered. She is deliberately targeted for this unspeakable violence by her attackers, members of a government-backed militia known as Janjaweed, because she is the niece of the President of the United States. The loathsome acts are recorded and distributed to the news media. A reaction of force is expected --- nay, demanded --- but the President surprisingly does nothing, at least not immediately. Forces within the U.S. government are at work, though, to avenge the atrocity in the most direct way possible. As these events unfold, Kealey, voluntarily separated from the CIA, is doing private security work for Blackwater. Tasked with leading a security team in charge of protecting the President of South Africa, Kealey demonstrates his ability to think, shoot and fight on his feet in an extended sequence that makes a James Bond film resemble a passage in a Jane Austen novel. In the aftermath of this event, Kealey is approached by Jonathan Harper, his former friend and superior at the CIA. Harper is unconvinced that Durant's murder was instigated by Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president. Al-Bashir's crimes are many and well-documented, but Harper is afraid that if the United States should retaliate directly against al-Bashir, absent corroborating evidence, it will plunge an already unstable area of the world into total chaos. Harper, utilizing an argument that appeals in equal parts to Kealey's guilt and sense of duty and justice, convinces him to undertake a mission to determine precisely who deliberately set into motion the chain of events that led to Durant's death and to bring that person to justice. Kealey, one of those individuals for whom the term "independent contractor" was specifically coined, follows a complex, treacherous trail through a series of exotic locales. But even a jaded figure such as Kealey is surprised by what he eventually finds.

This is the first book in this series I've read so I can't judge it in comparison to those that came before it. But I thought it was exciting and very well written with excellent characters, and like a previous reader I felt it was much better than most other thrillers on the market today. I will definitely buy the earlier novels by Andrew Britton.

In Darfur, the Janjaweed militia attacks a refugee camp where they brutally kill American nurse Lily Durant. However, Lily is not just another American in the wrong place at the wrong time; she was the niece of President David Brenneman. Defense Intelligence Agency General Joel Stralen sees an opportunity to gain an edge over his unit's prime rival the CIA. He pushes strongly for punishing Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, as he swears to his close friend he has slam dunk information the attack was not random. The vicious dictator ordered the assassination of Lily. CIA Deputy Director Jonathan Harper asks former operative Ryan Kealey to investigate before Stralen rushes America to judgment. The latest Kealey espionage thriller (see The American, The Assassin and The Invisible) is an exciting action-packed tale in which the DIA and CIA argue merit of a retaliatory strike like Reagan ordered against Gaddafi. Fast-paced, fans of the series will enjoy accompanying the hero to Africa and back though the story line is somewhat sub-genre standard as Kealey once again affirms spying is a team sport, if one wants to obtain the information and live Harriet Klausner