I'm a fan

So far, I've reviewed urban fantasy, YA, and literary fiction, and in case you weren't convinced and are still looking for something different, perhaps you're more into literary thrillers, eh?

Meet Intelligence by Susan Hasler, a former counterterrorism analyst for the CIA for 21 years. Now she writes about the misadventures of Maddie and the motley crew working in the Ministry of Intelligence, aka the Mines.

What I love about this book is its dark humor. The issues are serious--an impending terrorist attack, narrowminded policymakers, a government coverup, the inefficient structure found in all offices including the CIA--but Hasler somehow manages to make the book hysterically funny. This book is pretty much The Office meets Catch-22. The level of ineptitude of certain characters is both gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring. Seriously, how did those people get at the top? We see the counterterrorist experts hot on the trail of an active terrorist cell, only to have their research shut down by the higher ups, since the analysts' findings don't match up with the government's political agenda (i.e. invading Iran). Basically, the bosses all want to cover their @$$ and suck up to the President or VP or what have you, so they only say what the VIPs want to hear, instead of reporting the truth the analysts dug up. So if your bosses shoot down your reports and the policymakers won't listen and the country is on the brink of invading another Middle Eastern country, what's a CIA analyst to do?!

Anyway, this is a literary spy thriller that deals with politics, but it's fun, fast, and hilarious. Hasler is definitely a writer to watch out for and I can'ttttt wait for her next book. Read it. Laugh. Gasp. Be enlightened.

-jude