Permanent Interests

By James Bruno

Corrupt White House officials sell out to the American and Russian mobs to re-elect a weak President Corgan at all costs. American ambassadors and Russian KGB officers who get in the way are killed.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0983764212
• ISBN13: 9780983764212
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: Bittersweet House Press
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

More Than a Thriller

Other reviewers have already noted the great verisimilitude in Bruno's thriller story-lines and descriptive detail. Indeed, there is very little requirement to willingly suspend disbelief as the reader gets carried into the rush of a story that looks and feels familiar and real. In addition, I was struck by the quality of the writing and Bruno's deft ability to handle the most difficult of creative challenges, that of sex and love. Bruno illuminates the passion without unnecessary pandering to mammalian mechanics. "...The denial made so delectable this moment. They were impatient, but loved slowly, savoring every second...Her delicate fingers undid the top button of his shirt, then the second and on down to his belt buckle." See the book for the rest. This is a good read all around.

Great summer reading

Permanent Interests is a roller coaster experience -- past-paced intrigue that will entertain to the last. At every step Bruno's book pushes the reader to wonder how much of the story could be true and how much is merely fiction. I read this book a few months ago but I still find myself thinking about it, especially when I pick up the newspaper and read about the latest scandal. With recent revelations of a real-life Washington madam, Bruno's work came to life again for me. This fun read is provocative for its insight and candor.

Permanent Interests

James Bruno's Permanent Interests is a real thriller. Don't start this book when you go to bed unless you're prepared to be engaged in a page-turner until the wee hours of the morning. Bruno's strong hand in this game is his knowledge of diplomacy, the U.S. Foreign Service, and the U.S. National Security Council Interagency process. Bruno simply knows his stuff, and unlike some national security thrillers, his writing is realistic and credible. In terms of credibility and knowledge, his writing and knowledge is similar to that of Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, an Army Foreign Area Officer, who, like Bruno, spent more time in the field on the front line defending our country than behind a desk or "managing." If Peters was the type of officer that you would trust taking your children into battle with him, it is obvious from his writing in this novel that Bruno was the type of Foreign Service Officer whom you would want looking after your most precious interests overseas and within the Beltway. What is really refreshing is that James Bruno knows how to criticize some of the failings of our government without the polemic whining and bitterness of the typical "expose" written by disgruntled and burned out ex government employees who couldn't cut the mustard in their careers and then turned to writing. To those of us who have served with him and his like, it is obvious that Bruno is a patriot and a hands on and articulate foreign service officer who cared little for the coiffured hair and expensive suit bureaucrats that he so aptly slams and pillories in this thriller! He realistically portrays Post-Soviet Russians who are adrift without the Soviet ideal; self-serving Washington careerists who have forgotten the people they serve, and the everyday American heroes of the Foreign Service and the Intelligence Community who are dedicated to our country and its service. Also, Bruno's book is entertaining, witty, and fun to read. His portrayal of loutish gangsters pretending to be "legitimate businessmen" rivals The Godfather. The pace of his writing kept my attention throughout. My only nit-pick is that he makes one error on the lineage of the Hungarian Secret Police, confusing some Romanian organizations with similar evil-doers in Budapest. But that error is only a passing reference, and as neither Budapest nor Bucharest are central to the plot of this thriller, one shouldn't find too much fault with it as his descriptions of other locales are detailed, accurate, and interesting. I would make this book required reading for many undergraduate and graduate courses in foreign affairs or national security, and hope that it becomes familiar to the students at our service war colleges in Newport, Carlisle, and Maxwell Air Force Base. Although fiction, it should remind those in the public service in the fields of national security to constantly keep their bearings, as do the heroes of Bruno's book, as to w

A Great Read!

I really enjoyed Permanent Interests! James Bruno does a great job of developing strong characters and weaving a compelling story which ties the Russian and Italian mobs with a corrupt American government. It makes the reader consider whether politicians are by nature paranoid and dishonest, and that the next election is really what matters most to them. Bruno goes beyond that by suggesting that those in power grab what they can get "and screw everybody else, but gloss it over through the mythology of hype". I got a kick out of the fancy French meals the White House heads would gluttonize over, plotting their next move. There's humor, sarcasm, and love (gotta have that!) and I think this would make a great movie! Anybody buying?

Permanently Entertaining!

Permanently Entertaining! The most frightening thing about this can't-put-it-down page-turner is that a lot of it could be true! It's about a Faustian pact between a corrupt White House and organized crime. Italian mafiosi get worn down by the up-and-coming Russian mob; American ambassadors are assassinated; a compromised NSC chief goes crazy. And it turns out from his bio that author James Bruno himself is steeped in both milieus: the State-Pentagon-CIA permanent bureaucracy of nerds and buck passers as well as the New York Italian-American hangouts where men in sleek suits pass money from palm to palm with no need to even whisper omerta. History shows, and you've gotta figure there's still some overlap in these two equally hardball worlds of American power, and sure enough, here are the denizens, backstabbing, blackmailing and scheming against each other and through it all extracting more and more blood. The Washington scenes are totally convincing, as mediocrities and the terminally pompous meet and meet and decide nothing except to continue their pointless meetings, the stultifying "interagency process." The New York scenes, with the Italian mob painfully coming to grips with the competitive ruthlessness of the Afghan War-trained Russians, are unbeatable ("You lose because you become soft, like rest of American society...Now mafia exists only in movies. This will not happen to us.") So much mafia fiction these days reads like twice reheated Mario Puzo or worse; who can believe a word of the dialogue? This one is different ("We got Beaver Cleaver working at Gangsters R Us. He'll get in the way.") When the Italians and the Russians meet at "Pironi's," a classic New York Little Italy joint, every word and every action is plausible; you come away feeling you've been there, maybe you even want some of that tiramisu the wiseguys hog down as they bluff out their respective turfs. Then the good guys, including an ex-Marine who hires on as security for the mafia don, and a beautiful Russian escort to powerful men confront forces apparently too strong to resist: the U.S. Government plus two, make that three, rival mobs. But then...read the book. I guarantee you will finish with that eerie feeling of roman a clef; you may never again be able to watch Washington bigshots on Sunday morning talk shows without feeling they are all on the take, or worse.