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Book Summary and Reviews of The Prisoner by Alex Berenson

The Prisoner by Alex Berenson

The Prisoner

A John Wells Novel

by Alex Berenson

  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2017, 432 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

To unmask a CIA mole, John Wells must resume his old undercover identity as an al Qaeda jihadi - and hope he can survive it - in the new cutting-edge novel from the #1 bestselling author.

It is the most dangerous mission of John Wells's career.

Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkable - passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole's identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he'd left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison.

Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. The terrorist organizations have multiplied: gotten bigger, crueler, more ambitious and powerful. Wells knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Deeply researched, fast-paced, and believable. Peace be upon John Wells, but only after he's helped defeat jihad once and for all. That's sure to extend this fine series." - Kirkus

"Edgar-winner Berenson's 11th John Wells novel (after 2016's The Wolves) reinforces his status as one of today's steadiest practitioners of quality spy fiction." - Publishers Weekly

This information about The Prisoner was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Alex Berenson Author Biography

Photo: Sigrid Estrada

Alex Berenson was born in New York in 1973 and grew up in Englewood, N.J. After graduating from Yale University in 1994 with degrees in history and economics, he joined the Denver Post as a reporter. In 1996, he became one of the first employees at TheStreet.com, the groundbreaking financial news website.

In 1999, he joined The New York Times. At the New York Times, he covered everything from the drug industry to Hurricane Katrina; in 2003 and 2004, he served two stints as a correspondent in Iraq, an experience that led him to write The Faithful Spy, his debut novel, which won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel.

He has now written seven John Wells novels and one work of non-fiction, The Number. He left the New York Times in 2010 to devote himself ...

... Full Biography
Link to Alex Berenson's Website

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