The Prisoner (A John Wells Novel)

The Prisoner doesn't disappoint. Having read all of the John Wells books, I think this one ranks near the top of the list. Wells is pulled back in to the action after a couple of years on the sidelines. The CIA can't seem to function during crisis without John Wells. Vinnie Duto as president is a bit of a stretch, well...then again, Trump is president. Hopefully John, Anne and Emmie can have a life after this book. My one complaint? I can't believe that the ventilators wouldn't have been found before the funeral. But, overall, it's another great page turner. Don't miss it!

One of the best of the series. An interesting mix of story lines from the terrorists to the CIA mole. The ending, however, seemed as if Berenson suddenly found something else to do and just decided to say "The End".

Could someone from our intelligence community detour so far off the rails? Maybe. Could ISiS be so cunning and resourceful? Surely. Are the terrorists of the world so enmeshed into society that they can hide in plain sight? You betcha! Will good always triumph over evil? Only in a perfect world which is only found in the minds of dreamers. Alas, civilized nations will always have operatives like Wells to fight the good fight. This is the tale of that conflict. Sly, brutal and suspenseful.

Sweet sassy molassy! This book grabs you by the crotch and just doesn't let you go. I read it in about five hours because I was scared John Wells would murder my face if I didn't. But he wouldn't do that because he's a good man. I'm still scared though. Plot? Check. Character development? Check. Unexpected twists and revelations? Double check.

Put down that copy of Everybody Poops and strap in and feel the Gs. You like books? Read this book.

That is all.

Another awesome John wells story from Alex Berenson. Did not know how this one was going to end. After all the John wells stories Berenson keeps wells interesting and maintains john's matter of fact perspective on spying and fighting. Hard to believe I now have to wait another year for wells to return. Alex how about some backstory shorts?

Typical John Wells novel with most of the usual characters. Wells tries to sell himself as a pro-ISSL operative and runs into expected troubles. Well written by Alex Berenson and, as usual, keeps the reader turning pages.

Alex Berenson, who is a reporter for the New York Times, introduced the character of John Wells in his first published book. Wells stood out as one of the most amazing personages presented for readers in a novel. He was an American working for the CIA who had succeeded in joining a unit of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. They had gotten to trust him making him privy to their plans. John became so rapt in his role that he even learned to appreciate Islam's religion and converted to it.
After leaving the group with this mission accomplished further books described the deeds of this dark individual in fighting terrorism. "The Prisoner" returns full circle to the beginnings of Wells' career. A high level mole is thought to be active at the very top levels of the CIA. To find this traitor John is forced to repeat his actions of the first book. He must be arrested by Americans or their allies and be imprisoned with a terrorist who is thought to know who the mole is. Wells gets himself captured in circumstances that would point to him being a member of ISIS allowing him entree to the terrorist. What happens to John during his capture and while imprisoned is described graphically enough to follow Mr Berenson's thoughts of the U.S. handling of terrorist suspects held outside of our country.
This book, like its predecessors moves rapidly and keeps the reader glued to the pages following the process to its conclusions. There should be further novels featuring John Wells. He is just too interesting a character to let go without maximum development during the current conflicts with Islamic Terrorists. All Mr Berenson's novels featuring Wells are all nighters, and there is no reason not to assume that those following will be any different.

Berenson has written a whole series of espionage thrillers featuring John Wells, a CIA operative fighting al Qaeda. I was unaware of this when I requested a DRC from Net Galley and Putnam Penguin, but I find it stands up quite nicely as a stand-alone novel. Would I have enjoyed it even more if I’d read the others first? We will never know. However, if you’d like to read this tightly woven thriller either in sequence or singly, it will be available January 31, 2017.

To enjoy an espionage thriller, one has to buy the premise, namely that the CIA is a heroic organization, or at least has a segment of good guys that are fighting terrorism to keep innocent civilians safe. This is a premise I buy cheerfully for the sake of a good yarn; I do it when I read crime fiction in which the cops are morally righteous, or at least more good than bad, so why not here. In exchange, I got to enjoy an intense, interesting thriller that is different from a lot of the other fiction I read, and novelty is a meaningful selling point when one spends several hours daily with one’s nose in a book.

This is a literate read. In a world of dumbed-down fiction that plays to the lowest common denominator, I have come to value writers that have a strong vocabulary and aren’t afraid to use it. I also learned some things about the Middle East and how the USA operates there, including a few new specialized terms and some information about the cultures featured in that part of the world. Of course, this is fiction and it could also be true that Berenson made it all up, but his past includes work as a war correspondent in Iraq, and so perhaps this is what gives the setting its authenticity.

Our premise is that there is a mole at a high level inside of the CIA. John Wells has been feeling the itch to travel, impatient with his wife’s demand for more family time and suffocated by the dull sameness of everyday life in the States. He volunteers to return to the Mid-East and pose as an al Qaeda recruit so that he can be tossed into a Bulgarian prison and cozy up to the high-up operative that is interned there.

I blanched slightly at this; I have read a couple of former CIA employees’ memoirs, and I had to swallow hard to pretend that this guy would actually do this thing. But when we read thrillers, whether it’s crime, mystery, or a spy story, we don’t really want to read about tedium and paper pushing; we want excitement. Once I bought the premise, I was wedded to the narrative.

The other key characters here are Shafer, the CIA officer Wells reports to and who is also hunting for the mole; and the mole, whose name I can’t tell you without ruining the book. At first I thought I was seeing shallow characterization, but Wells’ character is developed in a way that is so subtle that the reader may not realize it’s occurred. Gradually we come to know who Wells is, how he thinks, how he will respond. On the other hand, our mole is a loser and remains a caricature throughout.
Every significant character here is male, but from what little I know, that’s consistent with the CIA, especially among the highest officers, a glass ceiling that’s hard to crack, so Berenson is merely reflecting US intelligence as it actually is.

The plot’s arc is a little different than one might usually expect. The hook at the start is arresting, and I expected it to perhaps ratchet up, up, up from there. Instead, the pace flagged once we were about 15 percent of the way in, and then gradually began to ascend again. By the time I was 70 percent of the way in, I understood that the next time I picked it up, I would have to finish it.

When we hit the climax, set in France, I threw off the quilt and sat up. The pulse-pounding denouement was inconsistent with lying supine and I read the last 15 percent of the book sitting up and leaning forward.

This story is guaranteed to spike your adrenaline and chase away the winter blahs. Recommended to those that enjoy espionage thrillers.

The problem of Berenson created John Wells is the author overlooked one important Absolute-NO-NO: You should never make your secret agent, a SPY, become a well-known famous guy among the domestic or international intelligence community. I'd like to remind the author by using the Personal Quote of Roger Moore about his 007 role:

"To me, the Bond situations are so ridiculous, so outrageous. I mean, this man is supposed to be a spy and yet, everybody knows he's a spy. Every bartender in the world offers him martinis that are shaken, not stirred. What kind of serious spy is recognized everywhere he goes? It's outrageous. So you have to treat the humor outrageously as well. My personality is entirely different than previous Bonds. I'm not that cold-blooded killer type. Which is why I play it mostly for laughs."

A SPY or Secret Agent should always work behind the scene and never exposed himself except to his case officer or handler. Yet Berenson, out of his own ambition and vanity, had made his John Wells an widely known problem-solving guy, even well-known to the Saudis and other countries' authorities. He's trying to make his created John Wells so famous like Jack Ryan, created by Tom Clancy, the dead author not only made his hero famous but also so ambitiously and ridiculously made him become the American President.

Lee Child has crated a guy, a forced-to-retire MP, Jack Reacher, but this character roamed the country like a Ronin, he never became famous but only known to certain people. But Berenson's John Wells, Jesus, he's so well-known and famous, that's why I couldn't help but thinking the author might try to make John Wells someday become POTUS like what Clancy did. Am I right, Mr. Berenson? The other ridiculously created famous agent/spy is Vance Flynn's Mitch Rapp, the dead writer also ridiculously made his agent/spy so famous and well-known internationally.

"What kind of serious spy is recognized everywhere he goes?" Mr. Berenson? Please give John Wells and me a break.

This book is so prescient it must surprise even its author, given he wrote it before the year started:
*sarin gas (like the Syrian attack)
*possible high-level CIA traitor (string of deaths of CIA sources in China)
*European bomb attacks (Manchester)

Berenson is again at the top of his game with this John Wells thriller. Lots of action, lots of fights (Wells isn't spared the injuries-ouch), lots of suspenseful pacing as Wells races to find a high-level CIA turncoat. He thus can't get CIA help while the turncoat initiates an ISIS European attack on a group of world leaders.

The bro-cameo for Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban is cute.

Well-developed and -researched thriller. Highly recommended to all thriller readers. Berenson's expert knowledge of the foreign hot spots is refreshing.

The John Wells series never gets old. One reason is that author Alex Berenson seems able to predict with laser accuracy what is going to happen the week (or thereabouts) that his new book will be released to the public, unsuspecting and otherwise. This is no small trick, given that, due to publishing timeframes, his final manuscript has to be submitted months before the actual publication. There is also the manner in which Berenson tends to compose his almost real-world characters, taking a bit of this and a little of that.

So just when you think that the newly elected president of the United States in THE PRISONER is...well, I’ll let you read and guess...Berenson tosses in a pebble (one concerning lunch, no less) that totally throws you off. Then there is his dead-on trade craft and war stories, which will convince you that (almost) everything that occurs in this novel (and its predecessors) has actually or may have taken place. You don’t have to suspend disbelief at all; instead, you find yourself putting belief at bay.

THE PRISONER somewhat appropriately circles back to Wells’ origins as a CIA deep cover operative who converted to Islam and penetrated deeper into al Qaeda’s inner circle than anyone else. The reason for his return to this form is a frightening one. An Islamic state prisoner, being held in an off-the-books facility in Bulgaria, has been overheard hinting that an officer at the top of the CIA has been passing intelligence off to ISIS. This information, if true, would be disastrous on several levels.

Wells and Ellis Shafer, his crusty, sharp-elbowed handler at the CIA, concoct an insane but effective scheme to have Wells, adopting the manner and persona of a veteran al Qaeda operative, captured and imprisoned in the same facility, in order to get close to the Islamic state inmate and hopefully get further information. It’s a ploy (sometimes used in jails and holding cells to obtain an admission of guilt from suspected criminals) on steroids, and it is hair-raising, to say the least. Berenson takes a good third of THE PRISONER and more to get Wells into the facility while developing a second plotline, which slowly and frighteningly reveals the construction of a two-stage terror attack aimed at the West.

Meanwhile, Shafer, back in Washington, begins his own off-the-books --- and, to some extent, authorized --- investigation into whether a traitor in the ranks truly exists and, if so, who it is. The reader learns the “who” just a bit before Shafer, while Berenson reveals the many interlocking parts of the terrorist attack in dribs and drabs while presenting a grim triptych of parts of the world that no one in their right mind would ever want to visit, with a possible exception or two. It is all paced perfectly, even when it seems, near the conclusion, that Berenson is about to run out of book before Wells, with a little help from friends new and old, attempts to stop the attack. Berenson does not, incredibly enough. And as for Wells? Read THE PRISONER and reach your own conclusion.

Berenson is a marvel, purely and simply. I have no idea how he does what he does, but I won’t lose sleep so long as he keeps doing it. I didn’t want THE PRISONER to end because a year is a long time to wait for the next John Wells book. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve read the series; if you haven’t, spoil yourself and get started.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This was a tremendous improvement from the trilogy which preceded it. The trilogy repeated the same plot and villains for three novels, each a year apart. I much preferred his earlier books where we got fresh plots and villains in each year's book. I don't mind a series of repeat heroes and agencies but more is just too much.

Our hero also has a daughter with the state trooper in New Hampshire in this book. Their breakup never felt right to me so I am glad that it is somewhat put back together. I never found her reasons very convincing for their breakup. I like that he's back with his dog too.

We also had Ellis as a front and center character again. I did not like it when we substituted Vinny for Ellis for an entire book. Vinny is now President and also somewhat running the CIA since he has a puppet in charge there. The vital question before a final ok now is "Did Vinny Okay this?" If yes, it goes forward. If not, it is dead.

The plot is this: there are agents being killed and Ellis is the one who figures out that means that there is a very high up mole. So high up that it has to be among the top four people at the CIA. Specifically, that person has betrayed us to the Middle East.

But trapping the one out of the four is challenging. The plan Elllis and John hatch is that John will go inside a prison that is much like Guantanamo but in a different part of the world. There he will try to get info out of a prisoner who has already let one item of information drop which touches on this problem. John's job is to get more. Vinny has okayed it so they are off and running.

Ellis is very involved in this one which I liked. The culprit works in the same building he does so that involves him very much in uncovering the mole.

Ethan, John's son, is not part of this book. There is a new character, a Marine stationed in Paris, who might be back for more books. He was pretty good.

Alex Berenson is back with his 11th John Wells novel. In the latest thriller, John Wells must go back undercover as an Islamic terrorist to try to stop an impending attack. This isn’t the first time John Wells has gone undercover like this. In Berenson’s first novel, Wells comes back to America after being an undercover Al Qaeda member for a long period of time as a practicing Muslim. Wells is still a Muslim, and that comes in handy for what he needs to do.

In this book, Berenson puts us inside the head of a traitor. Someone high up in the CIA is giving information to ISIS. This CIA leader is actively working to harm fellow Americans by putting them in harm’s way. Berenson does a fantastic job showing the transformation that took place for this person to turn on their own country.

To catch the mole, Wells becomes an undercover terrorist, gets caught, and is sent to a secret prison in Europe. The cat and mouse game between Wells and mole is well paced with Wells having to gain the trust of the other captured terrorists in this secret prison.

Berenson is at his best, and his insights into the head of a traitor was so well done that it felt like I was reading a true story. I think a lot of people can write a good action scene, but Berenson’s skills are more nuanced and it really helps the book flow.

In the opening scenes, CIA agents Batta and Girol are in Syria to bring out an Islamic State bureaucrat with vital information. As they cross the desert on horseback, with two locals as guides, they are monitored by American drones. Berenson’s 56-page story is an exciting start for the book, although it’s a short-story and the main characters do not appear in the rest of the book. The main narrative features John Wells, of course, at home with his young daughter when he gets called in on a new assignment. Ellis Shafer is convinced that one of the four men in the upper echelon of the CIA is a mole. Several recent CIA missions have gone bad, and Wells volunteers to go undercover to a Bulgarian prison in order to make contact with a man who knows the mole’s identity. The prison scenes are brutal, and although Wells does not get his information, he learns of a terrorist attack being planned in France. Berenson writes vividly of the terrorist world and makes Wells a very believable presence. As usual though, he packs his story with so much detail that the plot moves more slowly than a thriller should. As the ending nears, the pace amps up again as Wells rushes to abort the attack, without knowing exactly when and where it will take place. This is a solid outing in the series. We get to see a new dimension to Wells, a mature, loving, father, torn between love of family and dedication to his country. I wish the identity of the mole had not become apparent to the reader so early on.

I was a little worried for the first chapter that I’d never understand what was going on between all the factions involved. But luckily the author was just preparing the reader for the storyline and moved on with the character development.
I actually felt that the character known as Wayne through most of novel had valid reasons for his hate. He saw the injustice and was sick if it. But his decisions to fight back made me realize he was no better than the country he was trying to punish.
Of course, good guy, John Wells and even Ellis Shafer were the heroes in this action packed spy thriller! I’ve read several of the John Wells novels and really like his character. Now that he has a young daughter he is more human and less “cold-hearted” soldier (which we always knew was a facade).