The Triple Agent

This is a true story that reads like a thrilling spy novel. Warrick (Washington Post), a Pulitzer Prize winner whose specialty is covering intelligence, presents a riveting account of Humam Khalil al-Balawi, the presumptive Jordanian double agent recruited by the CIA in Washington's war against al-Qaeda. For some time, al-Balawi had been sending invaluable, firsthand information to the CIA about the inner workings of al-Qaeda and its top leadership. Al-Balawi had purportedly become a confidant of al-Qaeda's elusive No. 2 leader, Egyptian physician Ayman al-Zawahiri. The "double agent" had promised to provide the CIA with its biggest victory in its war on terrorism by delivering al-Zawahiri. After a waiting period, a special CIA team was to meet with the mysterious double agent in a secret spot in Khost, Afghanistan, to receive the much anticipated information about al-Zawahiri. On December 30, 2009, al-Balawi entered the location, but instead of delivering the anticipated intelligence, he detonated a 30-pound bomb strapped to his chest, killing himself and seven CIA agents. VERDICT Warrick's straight journalistic report, without editorializing, is highly recommended both to those who follow the U.S. war on terror and to all readers of spy and espionage thrillers, whether fictional or not. [See Prepub Alert, 1/10/11.]—Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile