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A review by canada_matt
The Director by David Ignatius
4.0
David Ignatius packs quite a punch with this novel, which explores the world of Intelligence and the race to plug a leak that could be devastating. Mixing thrills and political intrigue, the author pulls the reader into the middle of a story that could be pulled from the headlines, if ever America’s secrets were to see the light of day. After working his entire professional life outside the Washington inner circle, Graham Weber is put forward as the new Director of Central Intelligence. Upon his confirmation, Weber makes waves from the outset, wanting to clean up the agency by ‘opening up all the doors and windows to air things out’. Little does he know, that while there may be issues, this is an insider’s game. When a young Swiss hacker reaches out to consular staff in Germany, he tells a tale of how the CIA is vulnerable and that US Intelligence is candy that many hackers have already begun pilfering. Weber puts his resources into validating this claim, though the hacker disappears before a full investigation can be completed. From there, concerns about the larger hacker issue come to the surface and Weber learns that there might be a mole within the US Administration (or the Agency) feeding others ultra-secret information. Still new and smelling like an outsider, Weber’s time at the Agency could be short-lived, unless his political and intelligence witch hunt yields some results quickly, while he dodges those with sharpened knives aiming for his back. Well-paced and easy to get hooked, Ignatius has written a wonderful novel that takes readers who enjoy political thrillers on a wild ride.
This is my first David Ignatius novel, but I intend on securing more in the coming months. The entire concept was interesting and the elements of a stellar novel emerged as I continued to read this piece. Graham Weber becomes the protagonist from the early pages of the book, but the reader learns that he is by no mean the Intelligence guru that one might expert from someone heading up the Agency. His naïveté adds something to the overall development of his character, though he has a determination that many outside the inner workings of espionage and covert missions would likely share. However, he is not ignorant to either the need for secrecy or the importance of keeping America from being the laughing stock of the Intelligence community. The various other cogs in the wheel keep the reader hooked from the early going as the leaks and hacker angles are explored a little more. One must wonder if there are people like this in ‘real life’ who might be as ruthless and cutthroat when it comes to saving their own hides. Ignatius paints them in such a light that the reader cannot help but want to know more. The story stands on its own and keeps getting better the more momentum it gains, which only goes to show that Ignatius is tapped into the genre and its inner workings. While I do not profess to being highly knowledgeable about anything related to spies, intelligence sharing, or even national secrets, I felt as though Ignatius penned the novel in such a way that any reader could fell well-versed enough not to get lost among all the topics being discussed, which helps expand his reader base. I am eager to see what else he has written and how I might learn from him, given the chance.
Kudos, Mr. Ignatius, for such a wonderful novel. I am sure to find more of your work and tell others to give your novels a chance.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/248185-a-book-for-all-seasons
This is my first David Ignatius novel, but I intend on securing more in the coming months. The entire concept was interesting and the elements of a stellar novel emerged as I continued to read this piece. Graham Weber becomes the protagonist from the early pages of the book, but the reader learns that he is by no mean the Intelligence guru that one might expert from someone heading up the Agency. His naïveté adds something to the overall development of his character, though he has a determination that many outside the inner workings of espionage and covert missions would likely share. However, he is not ignorant to either the need for secrecy or the importance of keeping America from being the laughing stock of the Intelligence community. The various other cogs in the wheel keep the reader hooked from the early going as the leaks and hacker angles are explored a little more. One must wonder if there are people like this in ‘real life’ who might be as ruthless and cutthroat when it comes to saving their own hides. Ignatius paints them in such a light that the reader cannot help but want to know more. The story stands on its own and keeps getting better the more momentum it gains, which only goes to show that Ignatius is tapped into the genre and its inner workings. While I do not profess to being highly knowledgeable about anything related to spies, intelligence sharing, or even national secrets, I felt as though Ignatius penned the novel in such a way that any reader could fell well-versed enough not to get lost among all the topics being discussed, which helps expand his reader base. I am eager to see what else he has written and how I might learn from him, given the chance.
Kudos, Mr. Ignatius, for such a wonderful novel. I am sure to find more of your work and tell others to give your novels a chance.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/248185-a-book-for-all-seasons