The Tehran Conviction

March 16, 2009
Gabbay's winning third thriller to feature CIA spook Jack Teller (after The Lisbon Crossing
) focuses on Iran during two pivotal years: 1953, when a mistake-laden covert CIA operation overthrew the nation's prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and 1979, during the chaos of the Islamic revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini's rise to power. In 1953, as a naïve Company recruit, Teller befriends an idealistic Iranian government official, Yari Fatemi, only to be manipulated into betraying him and his family. In 1979, when Yari's sister shows up in New York and informs Teller that her brother is in jail awaiting certain execution, Teller feels compelled to return to Iran in a suicidal attempt to save Yari. Powered by relentless pacing and a story line abounding in subterfuge, treachery and subversion, this Ludlumesque page-turner offers invaluable historical insights into the turbulent relationship between America (“the Great Satan”) and Iran.

June 1, 2009
In Gabbay's third historical thriller chronicling the deeds and derring-do of CIA agent Jack Teller (after "The Lisbon Crossing" and "The Berlin Conspiracy"), Jack returns to Tehran on a suicide mission to bust loose an Iranian asset who was once his friend from Iran's most forbidding prison. The narrative moves back and forth between the 1953 overthrow of Iran's left-leaning prime minister Mossadegh and the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. VERDICT This run-of-the-mill novel is light on characterization and so-so on plotting. A far superior thriller about Iran is David Ignatius's "The Increment".DK

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