Brad Thor's Foreign Agent Formulaic and Unrealistic, But Enjoyable

Brad Thor’s Foreign Agent Formulaic and Unrealistic, But Enjoyable

Posted: October 7th, 2016

By John Sipher

John Sipher worked for the CIA’s clandestine service for 28 years. He is now a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment. John served multiple overseas tours as Chief of Station and Deputy Chief of Station in Europe, Asia, and in high-threat environments. He is the recipient of CIA’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.

Brad Thor’s latest thriller Foreign Agent is the fifteenth in his Scot Harvath series, and finds former Navy SEAL Harvath fighting both ISIS and evil Russians bent on luring the U.S. into another war in the Middle East. As an espionage snob, I was fully prepared to write a nasty review, lamenting the formulaic plotline and unrealistic action. While the book is indeed both formulaic and unrealistic, it was nonetheless an enjoyable read.

Foreign Agent opens with an ISIS attack on a covert CIA safe house in Iraq. Subsequent ISIS terrorist attacks against the Secretary of Defense and White House make clear that ISIS has a secret weapon, who is helping them hit the U.S. where it hurts.

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