Kingdom Come - Hardcover

Hougan, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345433246 ISBN 13: 9780345433244

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

As a CIA agent "without official cover" in London, Jack Dunphy sets up commercial fronts and banking facilities abroad for unsavory clients with money too hot to handle--a lucrative business that allows him to spy under a false identity. But after someone he has under surveillance is brutally slaughtered, Dunphy is immediately ordered back to the U.S. "Don't bother packing, and don't go to your flat. . . . Just take the first flight out."

On his return to Langley, Dunphy is relentlessly interrogated and dumped into a tedious desk job that seems calculated to make him quit. Determined to learn why, he uses all his CIA tradecraft on the agency that has turned against him. Gaining access to the murdered man's classified file, Dunphy discovers a cryptic list of names, including reference to the 143rd Surgical Airwing, a military unit that officially doesn't exist. Tracking down a former member of that covert unit, he hears the shocking pieces of an extraordinary story that seem too wild to be true--providing damning evidence of a vast conspiracy deeply entrenched within the CIA.

But searching for the truth proves a deadly enterprise when someone close to him is killed. Fearing he is next, Dunphy runs for his very life, from Langley to Paris, Prague to London. With no one else to trust, he turns to Clementine, the girlfriend he was forced to abandon when he fled England.

Pursued by CIA agents out for blood and a ruthless former client out for vengeance, following a twisted trail of lies and denial, Dunphy uncovers the existence of a clandestine fraternity whose origins are ancient . . . and connections are global. Embroiled in a plot far more elaborate than they ever could have imagined, with players too powerful and consequences too deadly, Dunphy and Clementine must unlock the secret of the Society's dark mission--before it consumes them in its ferocious rush toward destiny.

In a gripping novel that combines brilliantly imagined characters with the machinations behind this century's greatest unexplained mysteries, Jim Hougan has created a stunning international thriller of psychology and intrigue, espionage and prophecy, hairbreadth escapes and endless suspense.

About this title

Review:

Jack Dunphy is a CIA agent operating in London, and when someone he's had under surveillance is murdered in a savage, seemingly ritualized killing, the Agency "disappears" him from Her Majesty's territory and assigns him to a headquarters job that's the equivalent of walking a Staten Island beat. Bored into somnolence shuffling files requested by the public under the Freedom of Information Act, Dunphy suspects that his bosses are trying to get him to quit, so he uses his top secret clearance to find out why. In the process, he uncovers evidence that points to a centuries-old conspiracy whose purpose has been aided and abetted by the CIA since its beginning. When his colleague and roommate is brutally murdered in what was either a warning to him or a case of mistaken identity, Dunphy decamps for the continent; with Clementine, his English girlfriend, he tracks a secret society to its Swiss headquarters and pulls off a daring raid that nets him evidence of the Agency's long-standing role in an effort to change the course of history. While it has millennial overtones, this fast-paced and provocative thriller has no Y2K "sell by" date; what it does have is an intriguing explanation for contemporary mysteries like Roswell, UFOs, crop circles, and other paranormal happenings. Jack Dunphy is an enterprising and charming spy with a solid future as a series hero. Fans of Ian Fleming will find him a likely successor to James Bond, and doubtless Hollywood will as well. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover:

“[AN] INTELLIGENT AND PULSE-POUNDING THRILLER . . .
Hougan demonstrates fine command of his material.
His familiarity with the ways of spies permeates his novel.
Better yet, his writing is punchy and spare,
his characterizations lively.”
–Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0345433246
• ISBN 13: 9780345433244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352