She is torn between her love for Sam versus her love for her hot-headed, impetuous and slightly crazy cousin Razan. I appreciated how it wasn’t too out of reach as my knowledge of the Middle East isn’t broad, making it approachable. Few world leaders in recent decades have proven themselves to be more savage than Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As a Syrian Christian myself, I am utterly disappointed with how McCloskey’s world-building and cultural sensitivity stopped at a smattering of Arabic slang and stereotypes that cater to harmful perspectives held by some of his Western audience. A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East. The author who is former CIA, takes on a journey with a mildly unlikable main character that is attempting to recruit a very attractive female Syrian asset---google very attractive Syrian woman.The strength of "Damascus Station" lies in McCloskey's meticulous attention to detail and his ability to create a palpable atmosphere of tension and suspense. As interesting as the book is, the author spends a lot of time in my opinion in unnecessary minutiae. The writing is fine, the characters well-drawn, and the action moves along at a pace that's breakneck but often seems unhurried.

A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in Damascus to hunt for a killerCIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad.Highly recommended, especially for readers of Daniel Silva and Charles Cumming, and hopefully the first of many more books to come from this author. In one instance, he uses a derogatory term – Christian “sharameet” – to develop the main character’s guilt regarding her family’s power and position. As Sam Joseph dives headfirst into the intricate world of intelligence, readers are treated to a rollercoaster of twists and turns that keep them guessing until the very end. Once in Damascus, Joseph and Head of Station, Artemis Proctor are thrust into a dangerous game as they hunt for the man responsible for the disappearance of a CIA officer in the city.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. the ensuing and truly gripping cat and mouse game draws in doomed local agents, corrupt officials, moles on both sides of the divide, sadistic torturers and obsessed spy catchers in the Republican Guard. But others get into the act, too, including Russian intelligence, an Israeli spy, and the jihadist rebels in Syria. The internal machinations inside the Syrian government I wanted to find interesting but every single character was a depraved turd I wanted killed.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.