Supreme 'Spy'

In Dan Fesperman's new thriller, two couples, strangers to one another, find their lives caught up in the war on terror. The first couple, Freeman and Mila Lockhart, are globe-hopping relief workers who are first seen as they retire to a Greek isle. Their dream of a new life is shattered when three men invade their bedroom and use threats to force Freeman to undertake a mission on their behalf.

The intruders may be CIA agents, but that is not certain. What is certain is that they know secrets about Freeman's past that he cannot allow to be revealed. He agrees to do what they demand: go to Jordan and spy on a friend from relief-agency days, a Palestinian named Omar al-Baroody. Omar is now operating a health clinic in a refugee camp and raising money for a hospital, but the intruders believe he is involved in terrorism. Freeman reluctantly sets off for Jordan to betray his old friend.

The other couple, Abbas and Aliyah Rahim, are prosperous Arab Americans -- Palestinians originally -- who live in Washington. Their lives have fallen apart since Sept. 11. Aliyah has been subjected to strip-searches at Washington airports. Abbas was jailed for several days because federal authorities were suspicious of Palestinian charities he'd supported. Then, their daughter, vacationing in London, was killed in an accident in part because U.S. Embassy officials, suspicious of her name, withheld her passport. Aliyah tries to ease her grief with counseling. She also is increasingly aware of how strangely her husband is behaving. The reader suspects, even before she does, that he is planning a terrorist act to avenge his daughter's death.

Freeman arrives in Jordan, where his mission enables Fesperman to paint a vivid, in-depth picture of the country, from Amman's rich neighborhoods to the refugee camps. The greatest strength of "The Amateur Spy" is this portrait of a world that most of us know almost nothing about. Fesperman shows persuasively the streets and the shops, the political factions and hatreds, the poverty and despair and sudden violence. A rich Palestinian says, "For many, Osama bin Laden is Robin Hood. I would go so far as to say there is a small Osama in the heart of every Arab citizen, even at this table." Fesperman writes of Jordan's capital, "In the thermal pool of babble known as the Middle East, Amman is the drain into which anything worth repeating eventually swirls, and the city has become a listening post for every government that is still a player in the games of oil politics and Holy Land intrigue."

Aliyah, the grieving wife, also ventures to Amman, hoping to thwart her husband's terrorist plan, but she's far out of her depth. We learn that her husband has concocted a bizarre scheme that, if successful, will kill more than a hundred congressional leaders, Cabinet members and Supreme Court justices in one horrendous explosion. The question becomes whether the two amateurs -- Freeman and Aliyah, trapped in Amman -- can somehow prevent this disaster back in Washington.

As journalism, "The Amateur Spy" is exceptional. My only problem with the novel was that I found some of its plot elements improbable, but Fesperman writes so well that it's easy to follow wherever he leads. Besides, who is to say what's improbable in an age of random terror?