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THE AMATEUR SPY tells the intertwined stories of two amateur spies: one, Freeman Lockhart, is a retired aid worker coerced into spying on a Palestinian associate with whom he worked years ago. The other is that of an Arab American housewife, Aliyah Rahim, who suspects her husband (a prestigious medical doctor in Washington, DC) of seeking revenge for the discrimination his family has suffered as Arab Americans. Both are thrown into situations of danger in which they must act for the greater good, even while at great personal expense. Eventually they cross paths in the Middle East, and it is this part of the thriller by Dan Fesperman that is most interesting. Large parts of the novel are set in Amman, Jordan, and in a Palestinian Bakka refugee camp, places that few Westerners ever experience first hand. (Parts of Greece and Jerusalem also figure into the plotline.) As implied by the title of the book, the combination of two individuals forced into complex, unsettling situations in some of the world’s most dangerous hot spots creates a lethal setting where every false move can be one’s last. This is the strength of the book. It’s clear that author Dan Fesperman, an award winning crime novelist, brings a lot to the table in crafting a story that reflects so clearly on contemporary politics. The scenes set in the Middle East make brilliant use of the confusing political landscape; the characters are sympathetic; the storyline makes readers keep turning the page. And yet, indeed, perhaps because of the complexity of the story, the author cannot manage to keep all the details pertinent and running smoothly. In several places, details that once appeared so integral to the storyline simply fade away or go unexplained. For example, former aid worker Lockhart assumes that the agency coercing him into the role of spy is the CIA. When the plot twist is unveiled, this question then is largely dropped, with little consequence. Similarly, the author at first makes his readers feel that the burden coercing Lockhart into spying on his former coworker is so awful as to be unimaginable; yet, when revealed, the secret becomes almost anticlimactic. And there are other, similar, problems that readers will discover along the way. Overall, THE AMATEUR SPY delivers an interesting story that few other authors would attempt to tell. The setting alone makes the book worth reading. Yet there are some uneasy gaps in the book that disappoint too. Fesperman has done a good job on a book that could have been great.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, April 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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