Top Secret: Escape from Iran

By G. Gray Garland

A wealthy American businessman, who manufactures exotic metals the Iranians desperately require, is requested by the president and the CIA to undertake a dangerous mission by going to a very hostile... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1438933592
• ISBN13: 9781438933597
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Will have you on the edge of your seat!

Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (9/09) What a timely read with all the interest going on in Iran. The CIA and President are trying to find out information on how and where these individuals are getting the materials and chemicals they are buying in large quantities. Alex Blair, a wealthy businessman, has no idea that an old friend of his, Robert McClelland, would be the secret to what the CIA and the President wanted. With several fast meetings with the CIA, Blair agreed reluctantly to go to Iran to meet with his old friend. Knowing that this could result in his death, Blair continually questioned why he was chosen. Once in Iran, Blair was given secret telecommunicating devices, weapons and a list of secret meeting places. Still confused and concerned Blair does what he is told to do; but a surprise of two other people wanting to escape pops into the scenario. What happens next is daring, thrilling and scary. The author G. Gray Garland has done his research and it shows in his writing. He provides just enough detail about the CIA and Presidential workings that it doesn't bog the reading down. His characters and events are written in such a manner that one can't put the book down for fear they will miss something important. "Escape from Iran" is an easy read and sit-on-the-edge-of-your-chair story.

A classically styled thriller

Espionage is not a safe career choice by any means. "Escape from Iran" is a political thriller following a reluctant businessman in the business of rare materials, as he allegedly goes to Iran to sell what they need for their weapons of mass destruction. But he isn't there alone or really there to sell them nuclear parts - he is out to deal a blow by making key individuals defect from the Iranian government. "Escape from Iran" is a classically styled thriller sure to give fans of the genre what they seek.

Up to Date Thriller

I am a reviewer for BookPleasures. This is a review I posted on that website: Escape from Iran is an action/espionage thriller. The President of the United States is frustrated with the lack of intelligence about Iran and their nuclear ambitions. He leans on the Director of Central Intelligence, a man named Cabot, to find a way to obtain intelligence or be replaced. After Cabot and his staff review information available to them, they settle on contacting an American who has actually lived in Iran for many years, even predating the Islamic revolution. Robert McClelland is an adviser to the country's leading Mullahs. He has assisted the Iranians in the illegal procurement of various equipment and supplies that are banned for export by the United States and most of her European allies. The director of the CIA considers him a traitor but understands how valuable McClelland can be as a source of intelligence and reluctantly orders his staff to find a way to contact him. The CIA eventually discovers a friend of McClelland's from college days at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and the Marine Corps; Alex Blair. When he is first approached by the CIA, Blair is extremely reluctant to cooperate. He has become a wealthy man and is enjoying the life has made as a businessman/attorney. The first person the government sends to contact Blair is the Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern affairs who wishes to arrange a meting for Blair with the President. Although he is reluctant, he agrees and at the meeting in the Oval Office, Blair is convinced to assist in the project. Alex is then shepherded through preparations for meeting McClelland and participation in what has now been named, "operation Fish Hook." Early in his briefings by the man who will be his "case officer" for the CIA, Robert Gordon, Blair is told that the primary mission of the project is to use McClelland to locate the Ayatollah Montazeri and to transport him from Iran to the United States. Following his initial introduction to the elemental reason for the project, Alex begins training at a CIA facility in Virginia and is introduced to special equipment and operational techniques and meets his partner for the adventure, a stunning blonde woman named Patricia Diaz. Patricia is an experienced agent, but has had only one assignment before working with Alex. The two of them go to Paris and arrange to "accidentally" encounter McClelland and, through him, wrangle an invitation to visit Iran. They discover that McClelland is unhappy in Iran, but fears prosecution if he returns to the U.S. The book takes us along with Alex, Patricia and McClelland as they meet the Ayatollah Montazeri--who will only leave if he can take his daughter--through their preparations for the escape and the hide-and-seek they must play to reach the border. They are pursued by a determined Iranian soldier who has a special interest in their capture. I would have liked for the author