CIA Intrigue and The Blackbriar Genesis
BOOK REVIEW: The Blackbriar Genesis (A Blackbriar Novel)
By Simon Gervais / G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Reviewed by Michael Sulick, former Director, CIA’s National Clandestine Service
The Reviewer – Michael Sulick is a consultant on counterintelligence and global risk. He served as Chief of Counterintelligence and Chief of the Central Eurasia Division at CIA and is the author of Spying in America: Espionage From the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War and American Spies: Espionage Against the United States from the Cold War to the Present.
REVIEW — Simon Gervais’ Blackbriar Genesis is the latest addition to the Robert Ludlum legacy of conspiracy thrillers. Among the best known of Ludlum’s 27 novels is the Jason Bourne trilogy, whose hero is a highly-trained assassin of Treadstone, a shadowy, off—the-books unit of the CIA. The Treadstone legacy lives on after Ludlum’s death and its chief operative Bourne, has been the subject of over a dozen additional novels written by other authors, as well as four films and a TV series.
In the latest novel, Gervais consigns Treadstone to a minor role and instead spotlights Blackbriar, a newly created supersecret organization whose mission is counterintelligence – the detection and disruption of foreign intelligence threats.
Like Treadstone, Blackbriar operates with little oversight, reporting directly to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The organization, however, is hardly the typical group of investigators and mole hunters who painstakingly labor over clues to unearth the identities of foreign spies. Yes, the organization has extraordinary research and analysis capabilities, but it also deploys action teams, expert at deterring the threats – no arrests, no lawyers, no plea agreements involved. The focus of Blackbriar Genesis is on neutralizing the threats, usually by unraveling layers of deception, applying technology and most of all – engaging when necessary, in violence marked by guns blazing and vividly described, bone crushing physical combat.
The principal characters, Blackbriar operatives Helen Jouvert and Donovan Wade, are highly trained special ops officers with previous careers in the FBI and CIA. The two are initially dispatched to investigate the mysterious death of a deep cover Treadstone agent in Prague. Multiple threads, twists and turns in the plot eventually lead them to the discovery of a new, yet uneasy partnership between Russian intelligence and Mexican drug cartels to undermine the polarized US through a massive cyber warfare campaign. Along the way, the superbly efficient duo is threatened by a dizzying array of ruthless and equally competent Russian and Mexican adversaries bent on eliminating them at all costs. Ambushes, hand-to-hand combat, shootouts and narrow escapes all grip the reader and impede their steady progress towards discovery of the conspiracy as they race around the globe to thwart the combined forces of Russian intelligence and the Mexican cartels.
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The novel is topical in many respects. Investigative journalists are involved, a powerhouse social media and app development company is targeted for the cyber disinformation campaign, and the notorious Russian GRU units 29155 for sabotage and assassination and 74455 for cyberwarfare unit are among the many adversaries Jouvert and Wade confront as they struggle to neutralize the threat.
The plot of Blackbriar Genesis is well constructed. Seemingly unrelated story lines and characters heighten the suspense and are cleverly woven together in the narrative.
Most of the chapters of this fast-paced novel end with a cliffhanger that leaves the reader waiting for revelation of yet another piece of the conspiracy puzzle. Fight scenes and shootouts are well detailed and dynamic, although some readers may find them a bit too prolonged. Some may also find that the heroes’ victories over villains who far outnumber them may strain belief.
Gervais, the author of a number of novels apart from the Ludlum legacy, also has real world experience as an infantry officer working against both narcotics and terrorism targets. That experience shapes many crucial aspects of the book, especially the integration of technology in spycraft and the importance of intelligence analysis. His portrayal of surveillance on characters in the book is not only dramatic and suspenseful but also well detailed and realistic.
Gervais has created an action thriller that is an excellent contribution to the Robert Ludlum tradition and will keep readers riveted throughout the intricate and action-packed plot of deception, betrayal and democracy-threatening conspiracy on a grand scale.
The Blackbriar Genesis earns a prestigious four out of four trench coats.
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