The Peregrine Spy

From Publishers Weekly
Murray's third novel (after The Passion Players) is a complex spy story set in 1978- 1979 in Iran around the time of the fall of the Shah and the Islamic revolution. CIA agent Frank Sullivan is sent to Iran to judge the durability of the Shah's regime and the increasing influence of an unknown Islamic cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini, as well as to keep an eye on Soviet activities in the region. Frank, however, has some baggage that will greatly complicate an already hazardous mission. He and the Shah share an unusually friendly and trusting relationship, which angers some dangerous people. Frank must also contend with an old enemy, Soviet KGB agent Vassily Lermontov, a clever spy who may either want to defect or kill Frank, and who suggests there is a high-level mole at CIA headquarters. Frank's cover job is with the Iranian military as a media specialist, and what he learns from the Shah, Lermontov, some informers and a scary group of Iranian air force men scares the daylights out of him. Murray, himself a former media adviser to the Iranian military during the Islamic revolution, masterfully depicts the complexities of intelligence collection, the risks and tension of not trusting anyone (even your own people) and the complicated and deadly combination of politics, religion and hatred that brought down the Shah. Add treachery, assassination, torture, petty bureaucratic bickering and turf battles, and some very clever cloak and dagger tricks, and this spy novel offers exciting history wrapped in thoughtful fiction. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
From the former media advisor to the Iranian military during the Islamic revolution comes a tight, lavishly detailed spy thriller about an advisor to the Iranian military during the Islamic revolution who is really a CIA agent. Frank Sullivan, for whom the phrase "reluctant hero" might have been coined, has a lot on his plate: not only must he keep his cover secure; not only must he try to seduce a KGB agent to change sides; he must also figure out which of his colleagues at CIA headquarters is a traitor. Fans of spy thrillers told with an insider's eye for detail will be absolutely delighted with this one. As a chronicle of the Islamic revolution of the late 1970s, the book is informative and full of the kind of insights only someone intimately familiar with the events could provide. Definitely for the le Carre crowd rather than the more action-oriented Ludlum camp, this is a smart, well-crafted thriller. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Murray gets it all right: the background, the foreground, the plotting, the writing, the characters, the suspense. In a word, The Peregrine Spy is one hell of an espionage thriller and the genre is richer for its publication."
-Robert Littell, author of The Company

"Integrity for a journalist-or for a spy-means telling people what they don't want to hear: for the truth often shatters the worldview of the innocent. That is the theme of Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy: a hard-boiled account of the real truth about intelligence work, as well as a riveting chronicle of the Iranian Revolution. Murray knows his subjects inside-out."
-Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, The Ends of the Earth, and Eastward to Tartary

"Ed Murray's espionage thriller is better than fiction in its accurate portrayal of how the world of intelligence really works, and it is more fun than non-fiction-the story comes alive and the people really matter. If you want to understand the complexities of the CIA and how history as it occurs differs from history as it is written, this book will get you going."
-Newt Gingrich, author of Gettysburg

"Through myriad apt details of language, event and method, Murray reveals an insider's knowledge of the workings and the personalities of America's intelligence establishment...and of its tragic inadequacy. It is rare to find a book that entertains this well while informing so richly."
-Trevanian

"Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy is a dazzling tale of intrigue and espionage that might have been ripped from today's headlines."
-James Chace, author of Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World and Editor of The World Policy Journal

"A multicolored portrait of espionage and its tradecraft, expertly painted by a man who knows, because he was there, doing it."
-Brian Freemantle, author of Triple Cross

"Murray is a born novelist."-Mario Puzo



Review
"Murray gets it all right: the background, the foreground, the plotting, the writing, the characters, the suspense. In a word, The Peregrine Spy is one hell of an espionage thriller and the genre is richer for its publication."
-Robert Littell, author of The Company

"Integrity for a journalist-or for a spy-means telling people what they don't want to hear: for the truth often shatters the worldview of the innocent. That is the theme of Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy: a hard-boiled account of the real truth about intelligence work, as well as a riveting chronicle of the Iranian Revolution. Murray knows his subjects inside-out."
-Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, The Ends of the Earth, and Eastward to Tartary

"Ed Murray's espionage thriller is better than fiction in its accurate portrayal of how the world of intelligence really works, and it is more fun than non-fiction-the story comes alive and the people really matter. If you want to understand the complexities of the CIA and how history as it occurs differs from history as it is written, this book will get you going."
-Newt Gingrich, author of Gettysburg

"Through myriad apt details of language, event and method, Murray reveals an insider's knowledge of the workings and the personalities of America's intelligence establishment...and of its tragic inadequacy. It is rare to find a book that entertains this well while informing so richly."
-Trevanian

"Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy is a dazzling tale of intrigue and espionage that might have been ripped from today's headlines."
-James Chace, author of Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World and Editor of The World Policy Journal

"A multicolored portrait of espionage and its tradecraft, expertly painted by a man who knows, because he was there, doing it."
-Brian Freemantle, author of Triple Cross

"Murray is a born novelist."-Mario Puzo



Review
"Murray gets it all right: the background, the foreground, the plotting, the writing, the characters, the suspense. In a word, The Peregrine Spy is one hell of an espionage thriller and the genre is richer for its publication."
-Robert Littell, author of The Company

"Integrity for a journalist-or for a spy-means telling people what they don't want to hear: for the truth often shatters the worldview of the innocent. That is the theme of Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy: a hard-boiled account of the real truth about intelligence work, as well as a riveting chronicle of the Iranian Revolution. Murray knows his subjects inside-out."
-Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, The Ends of the Earth, and Eastward to Tartary

"Ed Murray's espionage thriller is better than fiction in its accurate portrayal of how the world of intelligence really works, and it is more fun than non-fiction-the story comes alive and the people really matter. If you want to understand the complexities of the CIA and how history as it occurs differs from history as it is written, this book will get you going."
-Newt Gingrich, author of Gettysburg

"Through myriad apt details of language, event and method, Murray reveals an insider's knowledge of the workings and the personalities of America's intelligence establishment...and of its tragic inadequacy. It is rare to find a book that entertains this well while informing so richly."
-Trevanian

"Ed Murray's The Peregrine Spy is a dazzling tale of intrigue and espionage that might have been ripped from today's headlines."
-James Chace, author of Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World and Editor of The World Policy Journal

"A multicolored portrait of espionage and its tradecraft, expertly painted by a man who knows, because he was there, doing it."
-Brian Freemantle, author of Triple Cross

"Murray is a born novelist."-Mario Puzo



Book Description
Frank Sullivan, an occasional contract employee of the CIA, has been recruited again-this time for work in an Iran where the Islamic revolution of 1978-79 is already well underway.

Frank's assignment is to work for the Agency under US Air Force cover while officially serving as a propaganda adviser to the Iranian military. As Frank conflicts with an agency bureaucracy seeking field reporting that justifies Washington's already-determined conclusions, he gains a growing awareness of the inadequacy of American intelligence on the revolution's real nature. And as he witnesses the overrunning of the American embassy by militants, he realizes how intertwined his job has become with his life.

Trying to survive a chaotic civil war is the least of Frank's problems as he becomes involved in efforts to recruit a high-level Russian KGB agent and to learn the identity of a mole back at Agency headquarters. But the closer he gets to the objects he pursues, the more likely it becomes that he won't make it out alive.

Set during the final days of the Shah and the consolidation of power under Ayatollah Khomeini, The Peregrine Spy is a stunning novel of a time and place that has never left the public conscious. It is also a keenly told story of the inner workings of the CIA and the extent of its reach.



About the Author
Ed Murray was a media adviser to the Iranian military during the Islamic revolution (1978-79) when the Shah fell and Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. He has worked as a journalist and contract CIA agent in this country and many parts of Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His previous books include Kulubi, a novel set in Ethiopia, and The Passion Players, a novel based on a production of the Passion Play. Mr. Murray's short story, "His Cuban Situation," published in the literary magazine Contact, won the William Carlos Williams Award.



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The fall of the Shah of Iran in the late 1970s, through the eyes of a compassionate CIA agent. November 1978. Frank Sullivan is expecting to settle into a new desk job in Washington, DC, when he's summoned to the Pentagon by his CIA bosses and sent in short order to Iran, where the Shah's government is endangered by increasingly militant Muslims under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Accompanying Frank is jaded senior colleague Gus Simpson, and the two pose as advisors to the Iranian military. A further threat to the government comes from Soviet covert action, and Frank is forewarned to steer clear of KGB operative Vassily Lermontov, with whom Frank is unfortunately acquainted from a previous mission in Ethiopia. Third member of the team is Fred Bunker, known as Archie (behind his back) not because of right-wing views but because he's such a "good gray bureaucrat," according to Gus. Heading up the office is the brash and vulgar Rocky Novak. When they arrive, demonstrations in front of the American embassy are an everyday occurrence, and Lermontov proves impossible to avoid; in fact, he wants Frank to help him defect. Frank juggles this with a handful of other concerns, not least the daily squabbling among the members of the American team. He gets quite close to Iranian air force officer Anwar and his American wife, Mina, struggling to fulfill duty yet yearning to return to the US. Their happy family reminds Frank painfully of the young son he has left behind. It becomes clear also that someone stateside is mirroring Frank and Gus's mission, secretly sending information back to Iran. And as he becomes a closer confidant of the deluded and failing Shah, Frank questions where histrue duty lies. A dense but informative account that reads more like a memoir than fiction-though in want of sharper characters and some cutting.


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