BOOK REVIEW: The Persian: A Novel
By David McCloskey/ W.W. Norton
Reviewed by: Joe Zacks
The Reviewer: Joe Zacks is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Aardwolf Global Solutions. He previously served for 42 years in the national security arena both in the U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. His final assignment was as the Deputy Assistant Director of the CIA for Counterterrorism
REVIEW — David McCloskey’s The Persian may be the finest of his four spy novels, with a rich and exceptionally well-crafted plot. Despite the complexity of the story, for those of us with experience dealing with the Israeli security services, the novel is quite believable. It illustrates the creativity and audacity of the Israeli Mossad while at the same time portraying the Iranian intelligence service as capable, resolute, and imaginative in its own right.
The novel opens with the murder of Iranian scientist Abbas Shabani by a machine gun remotely controlled from a Mossad operations center in Tel Aviv. This complex operation is similarly described in former Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen’s recently published The Sword of Freedom in a chapter he playfully titles “Science Fact.” Both McCloskey’s fictional and Cohen’s factual depiction of this sophisticated Israeli operation illustrates the heretofore unimaginable capabilities that result from pairing high tech with traditional spy tradecraft.
McCloskey’s novel is a sophisticated and multidimensional depiction of human nature and the motivations that propel people to action. It brings the HUMINT discipline to life, vividly portraying how a sophisticated intelligence service identifies, targets, and ultimately recruits and handles an agent while plumbing the depths of the agent’s psyche and inner conflicts.
The novel is told from the perspective of Kamran Esfahani during the latter part of his three-year incarceration and interrogation by Iranian intelligence. Kamran ends up in the custody of the Iranian intelligence when he tries to save the life of an Iranian accomplice during an Israeli covert operation in the suburbs of Tehran. Amazingly enough, this accomplice is none other than the wife of Abbas Shabani, whom Kamran recruits through sophistry reminiscent of John LeCarre’s story of a similarly dramatic Israeli recruitment operation in “The Little Drummer Girl.”'
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McCloskey’s plot is made all the richer because he shows Iranian intelligence operating deep inside Israel and successfully targeting members of the Mossad unit responsible for Iranian operations. Iranian intelligence does this through its own network of recruited agents. Years ago, this would have been a fantastical plot line due to the inability of Israel’s enemies to recruit Israeli agents. However, during the war in Gaza, there were a number of open-source reports of the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, arresting Israelis for working inside Israel on behalf of Iran. McCloskey turns this new phenomenon into a well-designed part of his tale.
McCloskey’s prose is rich, and he has clearly spent a good deal of time researching the culture, history, literature, and geographic features of both Iran and Israel to bring his story to life. For those who follow the Israeli intelligence services, he names several of his characters after famous Mossad chiefs (one bit character is named Mrs. Dagan—a nod to the legendary Meir Dagan. There is a Yossi and a Cohen as tributes to Yossi Cohen). He also works in parallel tales of two young girls whose lives are impacted by the actions of their parents. One is the daughter of the Iranian scientist Shabani and the other is the daughter of the chief Mossad operative, Arik Glitzman. I won’t spoil the story by sharing what happens to them, but it is a welcome storyline in the novel.
The ending of the book is a bit abrupt. The lead up to the closing has one believing that Kamran will be hung by the Iranian authorities. It doesn’t happen and there is a twist to the story that is plausible. While the very ending is satisfying it could have been drawn out a bit to help the reader put it all together. Now the reader can spend a few more hours in thought about how it came about and what the future holds for Kamran. I am still trying to piece together some scenarios. Some may find this frustrating. I find it enjoyable.
EDITORS NOTE: For more on “The Persian” be sure to check out Suzanne Kelly’s Cover Stories Podcast interview with author David McCloskey.
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