The Walk-In

Description

A diabolical plot, a lone operative, and a threat far larger than anyone imagines . . . Writing with award-winning novelist Ralph Pezzullo, Gary Berntsen-longtime CIA operative and the field commander who cornered Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan-offers in this electric thriller debut a terrifying vision of where the next threat to America may come from. When a highly placed Iranian intelligence operative walks into a U.S. embassy claiming to possess explosive information, counterterrorism officer Matt Freed is dispatched to interview him . . . and is warned of an impending Iranian attack on the United States that could kill millions. With a possible catastrophe looming in less than two weeks, Matt's superiors reluctantly prepare for the assault, but Matt obeys his instincts and launches his own unsanctioned investigation. Ultimately, his efforts brand him as an out-of-control renegade, and he finds himself left out in the cold. Yet he may be the only one with the knowledge needed to avert unimaginable chaos.

GARY BERNTSEN served for more than two decades in the Central Intelligence Agency. He operated at the highest levels in the Middle East and Latin America and led the CIA's major counterterrorist deployments in East Africa following the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. In hunting down Osama Bin Laden, he also commanded the most successful CIA paramilitary team ever assembled, a tale spellbindingly told in the New York Times bestseller Jawbreaker. Berntsen is a recipient of the CIA's distinguished Intelligence Medal and Intelligence Star. RALPH PEZZULLO is a former journalist, an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and poet, and the author of At the Fall of Somoza, Plunging into Haiti, and the mystery novel Eve Missing. His novel The Resurrection of Thomas Lear was a semifinalist for the Faulkner Prize. From the Hardcover edition.

"This novel is what thrillers aspire to be. Authors Berntsen and Pezzullo deliver a story that steams and dances like water on a red-hot skillet. The Walk-In is Tom Clancy for our era." --Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Collector, The Sleeping Doll and The Broken Window "The Walk-In is packed with what so many books lack: authenticity. This is a thriller full of thrills, and while you're page-turning and nail-biting, be comforted by the fact that what's in it is fiction. At least, so far..." --SJ Rozan, Edgar-award winning author of In This Rain "Gary Berntsen knows scary stuff the rest of us can only guess at, and he shares some of his dangerous expertise in The Walk-In . . . The Walk-In roars across the hotspots of the globe and right to our front door . . . I couldn't put it down." -- Peter Spiegelman, award-winning author of Red Cat Praise for the nonfiction thriller JAWBREAKER "Gripping . . . this honest account doesn't do the president any favors." -- Frank Rich, New York Times "A true and amazing story of how the war [in Afghanistan] was fought." -- Oliver Stone "A thrilling read . . . Berntsen did his best to try to get bin Laden; many in Washington have yet to do theirs." --Washington Post "A real page turner . . . Berntsen is brave and bold and a true American hero." --Cofer Black, former Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center "A compelling first-person, fly-on-the-wall account a story that Berntsen had to fight to tell." --Washington Monthly From the Hardcover edition.