Intelligence: A Novel of the CIA

by Susan Hasler

I heard about this book on NPR, and it sounded interesting. Susan Hasler worked as a counter-terrorism analyst at the CIA for over two decades, and the NPR interview discussed some interesting topics like intelligence failures. So I requested the book from my local library and started it with some modestly high expectations. And while certain aspects of the book were illuminating and occasionally entertaining, Intelligence was a disappointment for me.

The basic story of Intelligence follows an analyst named Maddie James who suspects there is an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. She and her small team race against the clock and fight against incompetent superiors as they try to identify and prevent the attack. Intelligence is most successful at conveying the sheer volume of data and the near impossibility of accurately identifying threats to national security or American interests abroad. The frustration of the characters as they sift through endless intelligence reports and intercepts clearly comes from Hasler's own personal experience.

But the rest of novel is fairly sub-par. The writing is sophomoric, but at least it isn't too distracting. Hasler develops her own intra-organizational series of terms and metaphors, with analysts referring to the organization as the "mines." Everything has a mining or metalurgic slang term, like alchemists, mine shafts, veins, canaries, drilling down, etc. Regardless of whether this jargon is genuine (I suspect is not), it was used inconsistently and got on my nerves. Also annoying were the various sexual encounters of the characters during the crisis. Do intelligence analysts really jump into each other's beds in the midst of terrorist threats? For our country's sake, I hope not.

Unfortunately, the major flaws of Intelligence weren't limited to the common foibles of a writer's freshman offering of fiction. The terrorist attack involves model airplanes at a major league baseball park, and the plan is so elaborate that it strained even my willing suspension of disbelief. But this isn't a book about analysts versus terrorists. The terrorists are basically gone halfway through the book. The real bad guys are the incompetent and overly-ambitious administrators in the intelligence community and the corrupt and deceitful presidential administration that tries to parlay the threat into an excuse to invade Iran. Perhaps in the hands of a more skillful author these themes wouldn't be as forced and clumsy, but in Intelligence they come across as heavy-handed echoes of Bush-hatred that was so common during the time Hasler was writing the novel. By the end of the book, the character of Maddie James is so embittered and cynical that she almost loses her credibility to explain to the public what actually happened. In my estimation, the novel as a whole essentially shares that same fate.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a rarity on my reading list in that it is a popular best-seller. I read a lot of genres, but NY Times best-selling fiction isn't my usual fare. But I got this book for Christmas a few years back, and I've been meaning to read it for a long time. The narrator had a privileged childhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, but fled the country during the Soviet invasion. Twenty years later he receives a call from an old friend that summons up memories of his childhood and calls him back to an Afghanistan he no longer recognizes. This is a harsh book of betrayal, guilt, transition, and redemption.

One of The Kite Runner's strongest points is its vivid description of pre-Soviet Kabul. The book is a window in to Afghan society and culture, including the the kite flying that gives the book its title. That rich heritage is juxtaposed with the brutal regime of the Taliban that the narrator witnesses upon his return. The Kite Runner is mostly very depressing, but I still enjoyed it because it gave character and flavor to a place that I normally only hear about in headlines.

The Road

by Cormac McCarthy
If I had to describe The Road in one word, it would be "bleak." This relatively short novel follows a man in his young son as they try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by nuclear holocaust. Human civilization has disintegrated, the landscape is covered with ash, and no plants can grow. The few survivors of the fall-out either scavenge for food or join together in violent, cannibalistic gangs.

This would be an excruciating book to read if it weren't so sublimely written. Cormac McCarthy's prose is as gray and spare as the landscape he describes. The story is so grim that I wanted to detach myself emotionally from the characters, but I was still wracked as the father internally debated whether it would be better to keep going or to accept death on their own terms.

The Road is undoubtedly the best book I read in 2009. I cannot recommend it highly enough. But I'm not interested in seeing the recent film adaptation, even though it stars the excellent Viggo Mortensen. I felt on edge the whole time I was reading the book, and some of the imagery was disturbing. To see it all on film would be too horrific.

Jump the Shark: When Good Things Go Bad

by Jon Hein

Jump the Shark is a pop culture reference to an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie jumped over a shark tank on water skis. The stunt was so absurdly over the top, that moment came to symbolize the inevitable decline of the show. Thanks to Jon Hein and a clever website, the term "jump the shark" has been applied to almost any cultural figure or icon, and this book chronicles some of the famous shark moments.

My favorite jump the shark moments are often the ones with single-word answers. When did The Beatles jump the shark? Yoko. When did The Cosby Show jump? Olivia. Scooby Doo Scrappy. Harrison Ford? Sabrina. Napoleon Bonaparte? Waterloo. Bill Clinton? Monica.

But sometimes the past-their-prime moments aren't as obvious, which is where the fun comes in. The original Jump the Shark website (now run by TV Guide) had millions of people arguing back and forth about when their favorite shows or celebrities jumped. I don't agree with all of the assessments in this book. For example, Hein is convinced that The Simpsons never jumped the shark, whereas I say it jumped in the late 1990's when Barney went sober. But the disagreement and debate is part of the charm of shark-jumping analysis.

The book was released in 2002 so it's a little dated. For example, the entries on Joe Biden, Al Gore, and other public figures are off. But most of it is right on. The book essentially serves as a review of American pop culture, told in small packages of rise-and-fall stories. One thing I noticed about reading this book was that I really haven't watched much TV. I only watched a few of the shows mentioned with any regularity, and I wasn't very familiar with even some of the classic sitcoms. I guess it's a product of my deprived cable-less childhood.

Jump the Shark isn't anything brilliant, but if you like pop culture, it's a fun read.

Enna Burning

by Shannon Hale


Enna Burning is the sequel to Goose Girl, but it departs from the fairy tale retelling of the first book. Rather than following the story of Isi, the princess-turned-goose-girl-turned-princess, the second book follows the story of Enna, the forest girl who became friends with Isi in the first book. The country of Bayern finds itself at war with its southern neighbor and Enna comes across a text that teaches fire magic. But Enna soon finds the same thing Isi has discovered with wind magic, that b...more Enna Burning is the sequel to Goose Girl, but it departs from the fairy tale retelling of the first book. Rather than following the story of Isi, the princess-turned-goose-girl-turned-princess, the second book follows the story of Enna, the forest girl who became friends with Isi in the first book. The country of Bayern finds itself at war with its southern neighbor and Enna comes across a text that teaches fire magic. But Enna soon finds the same thing Isi has discovered with wind magic, that before too long she can't turn it off.

I enjoyed Goose Girl immensely, but this book lost a lot of the charm that the first one had. I even disliked it in the middle, although by the time it finished it was good enough. I never got attached or invested in the character of Enna, and the plot was a bit trite at times. Enna Burning is worth a read if you really liked Goose Girl, but if you're a newcomer to the series I would stick with the first book, which stands on its own quite well.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins
Not since Ender's Game have I been so utterly incapable of putting a book down. I read The Hunger Games in the space of an afternoon, and I would have gone without meals if possible. Suzanne Collins creates a partially dystopian vision of the future in which a central power dominates other city states across North America. Each year a young boy and girl are selected from each outlying district to participate in the Hunger Games, a survival competition in which the young people fight to the death on live television.

Nothing about The Hunger Games is completely original, but the book is so good that I still couldn't get enough. This is a serious contender as the best book I have read this year, and I highly recommend it. Even though it involves fighting and killing, the book isn't particularly graphic, and I would recommend it to young and old alike.

Cyteen

by C.J. Cherryh

Cyteen follows the history of Ariane Emory, a brilliant scientist, businesswoman, and politician who has herself cloned after she dies. Her clone is then part of a life-long experiment in which her childhood and development is closely controlled to mirror that of her predecessor, in homes of producing another multifaceted genius. This experiment happens with the backdrop of interstellar political intrigue and competing factions within Emory's enormous corporation.

This book was very hard for me to get into. For the first 200 pages the major character, Ari Emory, does some really repulsive and twisted thing. I wanted to stop reading, but I kept on because I had heard that it got better.

I'm so glad I stuck it out, because it did get better. It got so good that I could scarcely put it down. It really made me think at times, about what makes us human and ideas of social engineering and the ethics of forming a person's mind. Cyteen won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and after reading it I can say that it is well deserved.