The Director

Written by David Ignatius

Review written by Adam Colclough

Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.


The Director
Quercus
RRP: £7.99
Released: July 16, 2015
Pbk

Graham Weber, an outsider, takes over as director of the CIA at a moment when it seems that America's elite security agency has lost its way. Determined to turn things around he sets about shaking the moribund organisation up and immediately falls foul of its old guard.

In Berlin a young man walks into the US embassy claiming to have knowledge of a plot by hackers to bring launch an unspecified, but devastating attack on the West. It is the first move in a deadly game that will expose a conspiracy that reaches to the threshold of the Oval Office and threaten the existence of everything the CIA exists to defend.

This intelligent and at times worryingly convincing thriller unites ideas that have been features of the espionage genre for decades with some very modern concerns, turning the result into a enjoyable if unsettling read.

These include the temptations that go with great power and the rivalries that exist within any large organisation, intensified here, of course, by the fact that it is staffed by people who are more than usually adept at subterfuge. America's crisis of (over) confidence and the rise of China and other powers threatening its position; the anarchic nature of the internet and the ability of a handful of hackers to wreak havoc with a few clicks of a mouse.

The book is hugely influenced by the Wiki-leaks revelations and questions they prompt about civil liberties. Ignatius also touches on the ease with which idealism, be it that of intelligence operatives or hackers, both of whom believe they are acting for the common good, can turn sour or be manipulated by others with less noble motives.

What makes you shudder is the fact that some of the, seemingly, wilder ideas and situations suggested by Ignatius are probably closest to the truth. A little welcome light relief is added by the fact that for all the high-tech paraphernalia of their trade twenty first century spooks are still obliged to fuss around with wigs, false noses and clandestine meetings in public places.

Throughout he keeps the tension high although there is very little in the way of anything someone weaned on the more hectic end of the genre would recognise as 'action' and manages skilfully to unite a globe-trotting plot with an exploration of ideas such as the meaning of freedom and the limits of power.

This might just be the future of the espionage novel as the 'great game' increasingly moves online into a world where firewalls replace borders lines with barbed wire; Bourne and Bond are being put out to grass.

 

my husband cheated again survivingediscovery.com my husband cheats
ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets http://ciprofloxacin500mgantibiotics.com ciprofloxacin hcl uses
coupons for pharmacy albertsons pharmacy coupon pharmacy card discount
walgreens photo online topogroup.com walgreens in store photo coupons
forms of abortion blog.robard.com coupons promo codes
viagra manufacturer coupon viagra.com coupon drug coupon
free discount prescription card buyerauctionmanager.com drug coupons
discount prescription drug card read free discount prescription cards
abortion effects saiftec.com abortion clinic chicago
coupon for bystolic what is the generic for bystolic generic bystolic
bystolic coupons for free www bystolic com coupon forest laboratories patient assistance
losartan jubilant losartan jubilant losartankalium bivirkninger
tadalafil 20mg tablets tadalafilo tadalafil 20 mg
how many abortions can a woman have pill for abortion abortion clinic in atlanta
pill for abortion abortion at 14 weeks costs of abortion
aborted babies allianceproductions.com elective abortion
back alley abortions abortion clinics in brooklyn abortion laws
motilium cena motilium cena motilium
duspatal idiotygenii.com duspatal
valtrex alkohol williamgonzalez.me valtrex 1000
best site for coupons free coupons website coupon sites
abortion price abortions cost abortion pill price
cialis coupons 2015 unbosqueparaelplanetatierra.com cialis free coupon
herbal abortion pill pro abortion abortion pill information
free trial voucher free trial voucher strattera 60 mg price
free printable cialis coupons free coupon for cialis discount coupons for cialis
amoxicillin dermani haqqinda amoxicillin-rnp amoxicillin 500 mg
abortion price chemical abortion pill abortion pill cost
cialis cialis tablet cialis 5 mg
neurontin 400 neurontin cena neurontin
cialis coupons free drug prescription card 2015 cialis coupon
what is an abortion clinic abortion stories of regret where to do abortion
dr bihari ldn naltrexone mechanism of action naltrexone low dose depression
withdrawal from naltrexone click naltrexone pharmacy


Home
Book Reviews
Features
Interviews
News
Columns
Authors
Blog
About Us
Contact Us

Privacy Policy | Contact Shots Editor

THIS WEBSITE IS © SHOTS COLLECTIVE. NOT TO BE REPRODUCED ELECTRONICALLY EITHER WHOLLY OR IN PART WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE EDITOR.