Man in the Middle

November 6, 2006
Despite the intention declared in an author's note to broaden Americans' understanding of the current war in Iraq, bestseller Haig (Private Sector
) delivers a routine mystery thriller that awkwardly blends fact and fiction. Lt. Col. Sean Drummond, Haig's wisecracking series hero, finds himself partnered with an exotic female military police officer, Bian Tran, when Clifford Daniels, a high-ranking Defense Department official, is found dead in his Virginia apartment, an apparent suicide. The pair soon learn that Daniels was the U.S.'s main liaison with Mahmoud Charabi, an Iraqi exile who, like the real-life Ahmed Chalabi, was a leading advocate of military action to topple Saddam Hussein. The discovery that Charabi may have been in the employ of Iranian intelligence raises the stakes for the inquiry, which takes place just weeks before the 2004 presidential election. The action detours to the Iraqi war zone before the predictable windup.

Writer Brian Haig and narrator L.J. Ganser are a tough act to follow. Haig, a career soldier and son of former Army General and Secretary of State Al Haig, has written a delightfully funny thriller that's comedic and insightful. His character, Sean Drummond, is an Army spook and lawyer on loan to the CIA who impersonates an FBI agent. Called to the scene when a Defense Department official is murdered, Drummond teams up with a gorgeous female investigator on a mission to Iraq. Along the way, the reader gets a pretty accurate education about the differences between the factions in that country. Haig's hero is the king of one-liners, and Ganser milks every line. Expect to chuckle with one line and roar with the next. Ganser gives Drummond an impish character and sardonic voice that has the listener cheering. There's no end to the surprises writer and reader deliver. You'll be delighted by the utter nonsense and treachery. A.L.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine