Imagine having to be extremely alert at all times, carefully checking your back, checking your surroundings, imagine the life of double agents. I would probably die of paranoia and anxiety attacks even before anyone terminates me.
In the Black written by Andrew Ceroni gives us a bit of a background of how double agents live. A thrilling book about spies, espionage, and the exhausting journey of escape and rescue.
Andrew Ceroni introduced us to Vanya Stepanov. He is a case officer working for the Russian Embassy based in Switzerland. Vanya was assassinated. He was a confirmed double agent working for the Russian Embassy and providing information to the CIA. After his death, a couple of double agents are dying and being eliminated by the Russians.
Double agents’ death is not the only problem the CIA currently has. The Russian has infiltrated the agency with the use of subliminal codes. The powerful subliminal codes implant messages onto a person’s brain and making them do things unconsciously. With these predicaments at hand, the CIA is now looking at a rescue operation for valuable and irreplaceable double agents that they have. The top on the list is Dr. Armand Mishenkov, a nuclear physicist leading one of Russia’s research programs. A tenacious CIA agent along with another tough agent with reputations known to intelligence agencies across the world set off to execute the operation to extract Dr. Armand Mishenkov.
It appears that the author did a lot of research for this book and he did a great job putting them all together. The concept of mind-control and subliminal messages or codes is fascinating. The idea sounds fascinating when you read about it, but scary if done in real life. I have been using subliminal music for sleep and meditation and I can testify to the effectiveness of these hidden messages.
The actions are detailed and comprehensive, which is enjoyable. My adrenaline pumps up while reading as if I’m on the journey with the characters. I also appreciate the translation for the foreign languages used. In addition to that, I very much enjoyed the humor in this book. I’ll give an example to give you a hint of the type of humor the author used in this story. “I agree that your performance has been absolutely stellar, that is, other than being a magnet for bullet and knife wounds.”
The story lacks the “wow” factor, nonetheless, I enjoyed reading it. A few errors were spotted which can easily be edited. The graphic description of death is as detailed as the action scenes. Profanity is present. No sexual content found in the whole narrative.
Bookworms who love thrillers that involve spies, espionage, and adventure may enjoy the book. This is not religion-specific, hence it is suitable for people of different religions (or without). As mentioned above, the author provided a thorough narration of death and it may not be pleasing to some readers.
I, therefore, conclude that In the Black is a good-to-read book that deserves a full rating. I am happy to give this book 4 out of 4 stars.
I am ending my review with an extremely agreeable statement from the book.
"I’m glad that through all of His work in the glorious creation of earth, God took a few moments to create coffee…"
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In the Black
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