The Amateur Spy

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Uncorrected Proof of stated First American Edition. Wraps. Good. [10], 367, [5] pages. Signed by the author on the title page. Wraps over an illustrated front cover. Front cover curled and creased at bottom corner. Some edge soiling. Scarce to Rare surviving copy of pre-publication uncorrected proof copy. Fesperman's most galvanizing thriller yet takes readers to a flashpoint of global intrigue, recasting the spy novel for the post-9/11 world: Anyone might be watching; everyone is suspect. Dan Fesperman (born September 15, 1955, in Charlotte, North Carolina) is a former reporter for The Baltimore Sun and the author of several thrillers. The plots were inspired by the author's own international assignments in Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of North Carolina. He received the following professional recognition: 1999 The John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first novel; 2003 The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller; and 2006 The Hammett Prize. Derived from a Kirkus review: Middle East intrigue swirls around an aid worker forced into a clandestine post-retirement mission—more classy suspense from Fesperman. Freeman Lockhart and his wife Mila have paid their dues. The two UN aid workers (he's American, she's Bosnian Serb) met during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, then moved on to equally stressful assignments in Rwanda and Tanzania. Now they're retiring to their new home on a Greek island, but their first night is interrupted by three spooks. They take Freeman to a nearby empty villa. They want him to go to Amman, Jordan, to check out a former colleague, Omar al-Baroody, a Palestinian. Omar has his own operation now, raising money for a hospital. But is it a front? Freeman's role will be to follow the money trail. He agrees in an effort to protect his wife: In Tanzania, Mila inadvertently caused a bloodbath, and Freeman wants desperately to protect her from this knowledge, but unless he plays ball, the spooks will enlighten her. In Amman he finds a welcoming Omar but bitter rivalries among his cohorts. Fesperman, who has traveled widely, provides details with an insider's mastery: The gritty Bakaa refugee camp, a run-in with Jordan's own spy outfit and hairy side trips to Athens and Jerusalem are all nailed to perfection. Bombs are detonated by an unidentified group at three Amman hotels, killing scores. Fesperman's empathy for his protagonists, struggling to do the right thing, is impressive.