Damascus Station by David McCloskey

 I like novels by Mitch Herron who writes the Slow Horses series. So, I asked Google who else writes books like that and David McCloskey popped up. This is the first McCloskey book I borrowed from the library.

I think I will read others by this author. This is a pretty engaging story about CIA's actions in Syria. Apparently, McCloskey is an ex-CIA guy according to the book jacket. Also, he has endorsements by General David Patraeus (claiming this to be the best spy novel he ever read), ex-CIA station chief and a former Navy Seal and sniper wondering how CIA allowed this novel "to see the light of day". So, if these are all real endorsements that's pretty pursuading.

There are lots of CIA tradecraft descriptions to give the story authenticity. Forbidden love between a CIA agent-handler and his source seems to be a rarity in spy novels. But then , as usual, good guys are invincible and the bad guys are no match for the good guys. 

The story flows well and the book is definitely a "non-put-downer" once you start it. I wonder how close are the CIA-actions in this book to things that the CIA actually does. We all know how accurate their intelligence worked out before 9/11.