Richard Lourie
A novel can, and should, do many things, but a thriller need do only one. If it thrills, it succeeds, and if it does not, no matter how well it does everything else, it fails. Alex Berenson's third novel, The Silent Man, succeeds in seizing the attention from the start and never letting go until the end.
—The New York Times
Patrick Anderson
Berenson…tells his story expertly. He has a sharp eye for detail, a good understanding of the "tradecraft" of the spy world and a talent for vivid writing…He squeezes every drop of suspense out of the approaching nuclear holocaust. Or at least as much as he can, given that we know John Wells is on the case.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Former Edgar Award-winner Berenson returns with another top-notch spy thriller that is as realistic and unnerving as anything in the genre today. After his fiancée and partner is severely injured in an attack, CIA agent John Wells tours the world in search of revenge. With a cast of international characters, narrator George Guidall has a tough task on his tongue-luckily, he comes through with a rousing performance that captures the dialogue with ease and holds listeners' attention from start to finish. Guidall's tone is gritty, dry and speckled with an underlying sense of realism that makes this story all the more frightening. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 15). (Feb.)
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Library Journal
Edgar Award winner Berenson's third John Wells thriller—following The Faithful Spy(2007) and The Ghost War(2008), both also available from Recorded Books and Penguin Audio—finds the tormented CIA agent continuing his pursuit of his elusive enemy, arms dealer Pierre Kowalski, at the same time that two atomic bombs are stolen by jihadists. While Audie Award winner George Guidall (I Know This Much Is True) is one of the giants of the audiobook narrating industry, his folksy modulations might be more appropriate for less hectically paced material. The differences among his various accents are also less pronounced than they perhaps ought to be. Nevertheless, this one's engrossing. [Audio clip available through us.penguingroup.com; the Putnam hc was described as a "swift and gripping read," LJXpress review 2/3/09.—Ed.]—Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Lib.
—Michael Adams
Kirkus Reviews
CIA superagent John Wells (The Ghost War, 2008, etc.) returns in another well-crafted thriller. When his people botch a hit on Wells, ruthless international weapons dealer Pierre Kowalski knows he needs to think fast of something valuable to trade for his skin. Wells isn't one to let something like this slide, especially since his fiancee Jennifer Exley was caught in the crossfire. In exchange for a truce, Kowalski decides to let Wells in on a rumor that's been making the rounds lately, something about an unspecified quantity of highly enriched uranium that the Russians seem to have lost. Wells, who already has had some considerable success when it comes to saving the country from grave national threats, takes the bait. Soon he and the rest of the federal government are scrambling to find out who has the uranium, how much they have and what they're planning on doing with it. You could arch your eyebrows at the hero's God-like hand-to-hand combat abilities, or the circumstances that conspire to place the same agent between the United States and total ruin more than once in the span of a few short years. It might be considered overkill that Wells is lustily ogled by every female in the book, from the supermodel to the tanning-booth attendant. And low groans are definitely in order for the tenuous clue that leads him to the book's climactic conclusion. But please groan quietly, so as not to spoil everyone's fun. Berenson earns his reader's suspension of disbelief with a relentless plot and many expertly wrought white-knuckle thrills along the way. Action-packed, thrilling and just credible enough. Author appearances in New York
