The Midnight House

by Alex Berenson

Book Overview

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Deceivers delivers a gripping John Wells thriller that takes readers into the darkest shadows of a silent war... One morning, a former CIA agent is shot... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399156208
• ISBN13: 9780399156205
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Sparkles with verisimilitude about the CIA, AfPak, and secret prisons

Alex Berenson's "The Midnight House" is a terrific cerebral thriller about the CIA, "AfPak" (aka al Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Pakistan), and a secret CIA prison site in Poland. If this sounds like something ripped from the pages of the New York Times, well, Berenson *is* a NY Times reporter, and the basic framework of the novel bears more than passing resemblance to events of the last decade. The narrative drive of "The Midnight House" is an effort by two CIA agents to find out who is killing former members of a secret CIA squad that had detained and interrogated high-level terrorism suspects in a secret prison in Poland. (In fact, the U.S. did run such secret prisons in Poland and Romania, among other countries, in which high-level al Qaeda members like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, were subjected to waterboarding and other coercive interrogation tactics.) It's called the Midnight House because it's always midnight for the prisoners, who are subjected to brutal interrogations. Is it al Qaeda that's gunning for the former members of the interrogation squad? Or one of the surviving members who's trying to cover up something terrible that happened? The writing is taut, and displays a reporter's eye for detail and efficient exposition. The shorthand codes in CIA cables, for example, are explained quickly and just enough to move the plot along with drowning the reader in unnecessary verbiage. I should say that I don't normally like novels that jump back and forth between different timelines, as this one does, but Berenson manages to pull it off without seeming like he's cheating the reader. (Often I find that authors who use the split timeline do so to generate suspense artificially.) Finally, I gather this is the fourth novel in a series about CIA agent John Wells. I hadn't read the first three (I believe "The Faithful Spy" is the first one) but found it relatively easy to get into the storyline. There are references to events that have happened earlier, which I suppose means that at least one of the earlier books is spoiled for me, but this novel seems to be self-contained. In short, I really enjoyed this novel. It's not as action packed as, say, books by Vince Flynn, but then, it's probably about 10,000 more realistic as well.

Berenson's finest yet

I have read all four of the John Wells novels and this is the best in the series. While some might prefer slam-bang action and fears of the imminent destruction of the world, what I really liked about Midnight House was the psychological intrigue. In a good spy novel you need twists and turns including it never being clear whether some characters are "good" or "bad" and this book has plenty of that. The pain of the interrogators seemed real and Wells investigation of the murders central to the plot kept me guessing.

Who guards the guards?

Who guards the guards? The Midnight House by Alex Berenson is a very well crafted philosophical action thriller. Mr. Berenson tackles one of today's most controversial topics: Torture. Enter protagonist CIA agent John Wells to find out exactly what happened at the super secret rendition Midnight House, and why the interrogators stationed there are being killed off. Weaving intense action with the current hot topic of interrogational torture, Mr. Berenson writes a fast paced story dealing with all the difficult and seamy psychological aspects of rendition and international espionage. Mr. Berenson's tale is broad brushed and details all the political, psychological, and philosophical aspects of today's complex world of international espionage and terror: From the frontline Delta Operators to the highest levels of Homeland Security. Simply stated, everyone at every level is affected by the over exposed world of detainee interrogation and manipulation. In today's world of hyper-politicization it matters not if the information obtained is actionable, what matters most is the process. Protagonist John Wells must deal with these difficult thorny questions and as Mr. Berenson points out there are NO easy answers. Just more questions. A page turner but not for the normal reasons. This is a thinking person's examination of the more controversial aspects of the global war on terror. Mr. Berenson does a very good job of questioning just who are the real terrorists: The jihadists or the operators trying to catch and stop them? And what exactly is torture and does it have a place in current world events? I have my views, but it is for the reader to make their own moral judgments. All in all a finely crafted work concerning one of today's most controversial subjects. Character development was excellent. Mr. Berenson did a fine job fleshing out numerous psychologically complex characters. The protagonist John Wells is the new younger version of Vince Flynn's explosive Mitch Rapp. Kudos for that alone. Also, high marks for no gratuitous sex, language or violence. Just a great storyline well done. Hearty recommend for The Midnight House. Mr. Berenson gets better with each new novel. I like how he mixes his action with thought provoking questions. He challenges the reader to think and make value judgments! This keeps the reader engaged at all literary levels. Watch out Vince Flynn you are going to be pushed by Alex Berenson and competition always brings out the best. I hate buying hardback fiction at today's exorbitant prices so check the local library as I'm sure they have a copy. I am expectantly looking forward to Mr. Berenson's next John Wells novel.

Excellent Book!

This is another good book from Alex Berenson. Once again the hero of this action-espinoige novel is John Wells. The U.S. government has set up a house in Poland called the Midnight House. This house is used for interrogation purposes. Jihadists from the war in Afghanistan are captured and brought to the Midnight House to be interrogated (or tortured). This facility is staffed by CIA personnel.Army Rangers, and other personnel. The name of this group is 673. There are 10 members of this working group. When 7 members of the 10 are murdered the head of the CIA brings John Wells in to investigate the killings and determine who is responsible. Wells travels around the globe to trace down leads. He is assaulted and arrested. It turns out to be a rough investigation. Wells starts narrowing in on the killer. The identity of the real killer will surprise you. He also discovers deception and conspiracy wound into this plot. This is a very good book that will give you insight into interrogation centers. Be sure to buy it.

5 for action/suspense; 3 for pseudo-intellectual babble

As Daniel Sliva used to do, Alex Berenson raises hot-button issues while telling a terrific adventure story. The question of what's moral in a time a war is at the heart of this narrative and no one is likely to be happy with the answers. I'm giving this 5 stars because it's a great thriller. Berenson sort of wants to (sic) make it something more, but he doesn't give the attention to John Wells' thought that he gives to everyone's action. But fair enough. A good thriller is nothing to sneeze at. Saving the world is hard. Doing it convincingly book after book must be a huge challenge. This is the fourth John Wells thriller, and Berenson manages to give us a more a hero who changes - that's good - but who isn't actually transformed, despite some angst-ridden narration. A number of current mystery/thriller writers have intellectual heroes - Donna Leon's Brunetti; Silva's Gabriel Alon in the middle of the series (he's stopped thinking and now merely leaps to kill people); Stephen White's Alan Gregory; Winspear's Masie Dobbs. But each of these characters engages issues through reading and disciplined thinking. Susan Dunlap's Darcy Lott brings the mental disciple of Zen to her daily life, her work, her investigation. Berenson gives Wells a few biographies to read, but he doesn't tell us anything about them and Wells doesn't respond to them critically. It would be terrific to see the thinking of a NYTimes reporter on the shaping of post-9/11 history, but Berenson doesn't put in the time to develop the life of Wells' mind. The first in the series, The Faithful Spy, was amazing. The second book was a second book. In the third novel Berenson allows Wells to develop believably, still at odds with his American culture, although with nothing said about his faith. (Wells converted to Islam while spending years under cover in Afghanistan. In the second book, he moves into more secular mind-set, and in the third all we hear about is not eating pork - superficial stuff.) In The Midnight House he returns to the practice of Islam while undercover again, but the passages of introspection on theology are sophomoric at best. There's a real opportunity here to explore the ways in which religion engages with political action and moral practice, but all we get is the occasional paragraph of generalized comparatives. Jennifer Exley, a central character in the first book , becomes more and more marginal as the series progresses, for all that she did figure out the solution in the second book. Here she is entirely absent and I actually prefer that to seeing her as an accessory (in both senses) rather than a protagonist. Berenson can draw strong women characters -- there's a mother of 3 here who I'd love to meet again -- but he has yet to sustain one. This is a guys' adventure, very conventional. Berenson gives us good suspense and compelling action. If he wants to turn Wells into a philosopher king -- or even a mensch -- he needs to make the char