The Peregrine Spy - Hardcover

Murray, Edmund P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031230367X ISBN 13: 9780312303679

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2004

Synopsis

Frank Sullivan, an occasional contract employee of the CIA, has been recruited again-this time for work in an Iran where the Islamic revolution of 1978-79 is already well underway.

Frank's assignment is to work for the Agency under US Air Force cover while officially serving as a propaganda adviser to the Iranian military. As Frank conflicts with an agency bureaucracy seeking field reporting that justifies Washington's already-determined conclusions, he gains a growing awareness of the inadequacy of American intelligence on the revolution's real nature. And as he witnesses the overrunning of the American embassy by militants, he realizes how intertwined his job has become with his life.

Trying to survive a chaotic civil war is the least of Frank's problems as he becomes involved in efforts to recruit a high-level Russian KGB agent and to learn the identity of a mole back at Agency headquarters. But the closer he gets to the objects he pursues, the more likely it becomes that he won't make it out alive.

Set during the final days of the Shah and the consolidation of power under Ayatollah Khomeini, The Peregrine Spy is a stunning novel of a time and place that has never left the public conscious. It is also a keenly told story of the inner workings of the CIA and the extent of its reach.

About this title

About the Author

Ed Murray was a media adviser to the Iranian military during the Islamic revolution (1978-79) when the Shah fell and Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. He has worked as a journalist and contract CIA agent in this country and many parts of Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His previous books include Kulubi, a novel set in Ethiopia, and The Passion Players, a novel based on a production of the Passion Play. Mr. Murray's short story, "His Cuban Situation," published in the literary magazine Contact, won the William Carlos Williams Award.

Review

"Murray gets it all right: the background, the foreground, the plotting, the writing, the characters, the suspense. In a word, The Peregrine Spy is one hell of an espionage thriller and the genre is richer for its publication."
-Robert Littell, author of The Company

"Integrity for a journalist-or for a spy-means telling people what they don't want to hear: for the truth often shatters the worldview of the innocent. That is the theme of Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy: a hard-boiled account of the real truth about intelligence work, as well as a riveting chronicle of the Iranian Revolution. Murray knows his subjects inside-out."
-Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, The Ends of the Earth, and Eastward to Tartary

"Ed Murray's espionage thriller is better than fiction in its accurate portrayal of how the world of intelligence really works, and it is more fun than non-fiction-the story comes alive and the people really matter. If you want to understand the complexities of the CIA and how history as it occurs differs from history as it is written, this book will get you going."
-Newt Gingrich, author of Gettysburg

"Through myriad apt details of language, event and method, Murray reveals an insider's knowledge of the workings and the personalities of America's intelligence establishment...and of its tragic inadequacy. It is rare to find a book that entertains this well while informing so richly."
-Trevanian

"Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy is a dazzling tale of intrigue and espionage that might have been ripped from today's headlines."
-James Chace, author of Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World and Editor of The World Policy Journal

"A multicolored portrait of espionage and its tradecraft, expertly painted by a man who knows, because he was there, doing it."
-Brian Freemantle, author of Triple Cross

"Murray is a born novelist."-Mario Puzo

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 031230367X
• ISBN 13: 9780312303679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464