THE PRISONER OF GUANTANAMO

Add a great journalist, a surreal location, a topical subject and a great plot and bingo you have one of the best literary thrillers released this year. Dan Fesperman a former journalist with Baltimore Sun has produced in his fourth novel - The Prisoner of Guantanamo a thriller that shows that the awards he received from The CWA with his debut Lie in the Dark [The John Creasey Memorial Dagger] and The Small Boat of Great Sorrows [Ian Fleming Steel Dagger] were no flash in the pans.

I think the best way to sum up his latest political thriller is to call it ‘The Cold War Meets the War on Terror’ and what an excellent and thought provoking read this is. It is no surprise that Fesperman has been to this little enclave of America on the shores of Cuba several times; because this novel is researched at the highest level, but the research does not get in the way of great story-telling.

The story is told from the eyes of Revere Falk a 33 year old FBI agent with a past that saw him first step onto the shores of Guantanamo [referred to as ‘Gitmo’ by the soldiers who work this surreal camp] 12 years previously when he was a US Marine. At that time he was involved in some shading goings-on, and harbours secrets that will reverberate to today.

Falk is sent to the island as an Arabic speaking FBI agent to interrogate a Yemeni prisoner Adnan al-Hamdi [a young Afghan caught in the post-9/11 war] who could hold sensitive information for the US. Falk however soon finds himself enmeshed in the apparent murder of an American sergeant, Earl Ludwig who is found washed up on the beach that bisects the US and Cuban ends of the island.

The tension in this book is like a steel cord being tightened, and you can hear it creak and strain as the story inches towards its climax. Add a colourful array of characters including Pam, a female interrogator and Revere’s love interest and you have a story that could be as real as anything written in today’s newspapers. As Revere delves the murky waters he finds circumstances that could link the Cubans to Al-Qaeda; so could the Cold Warriors and the Jihadists be awkward bedfellows? Revere realizes that his own past could destroy his future and that everyone is guilty of something. Driven less by action than by dialogue and location, this thriller is one that makes you think and educates. Top notch work from one of our great writers.