US Vice President Sophie Payne is on an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany. As she begins a controversial speech to crowds gathered near the US Embassy in Berlin, a terrorist attack is launched. A bomb goes off in front of the Brandenburg Gate, killing and wounding many, including Ms. Payne's bodyguard. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, a helicopter lands, terrorists grab the vice president and make an effortless get-away. Later, as the CIA director and her associates review the videotape of the kidnapping, they recognize the face of the pilot and are stunned into silence. And these folks, who have seen and heard just about everything, are not easily shocked.
Caroline Carmichael is a CIA intelligence analyst specializing in European terrorist groups. Her husband, Eric, former CIA operative and European station chief, had been killed two years before when the plane he was on exploded over the Aegean Sea. Since then, all Caroline's work for the Counterterrorism Center, (CTC), has focused on one disciplined, deadly group of Eastern European killers, the "30 April Organization." Their agenda is to cleanse Europe of all non-Aryans and their MO is terror. Croatian Mlan Krucevic, is the organization's leader. He is a trained geneticist who uses biological agents in human experiments. A fanatic, like his father before him, he is a former director of prison camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and responsible for the murder and torture of thousands of Muslims and Serbs. His file reads like sadistic horror fiction. It was Krucevic who had a bomb placed on MedAir 901, Eric Carmichael's fatal flight. The 30 April Organization, under Krucevic's command, is also responsible for kidnapping Sophie Payne.
Caroline's expertise on everything pertaining to 30 April, its history, methods, motives and the psychology of its members, leads to her active involvement in the plan to rescue the Vice President. However, as the complex plot unwinds, and Central European governments begin to crumble, the reader discovers that much more than the life of a high ranking US official is at stake.
"The Cutout" is an outstanding novel of espionage and international politics - chillingly realistic, especially given Francine Mathews' personal knowledge of her subject. She is a former CIA analyst. Her descriptions of the intelligence community are fascinating and credible, as is her tour through the killing fields of Bosnia, and the glimpses she provides of the savage results of religious and ethnic hatreds which have existed in this region for centuries.
"Cutout" is an Intelligence term for a go-between, a pawn. I found "The Cutout" to be more than just an intelligent action thriller and a riveting read. Ms. Mathews' presents a fascinating political scenario, where a German chancellor is assassinated. His replacement is a representative from Germany's Social Conservative Party, with a hidden agenda to annex Central Europe, and the means to do it. This overriding plot is gripping, as is the kidnapping of the US Vice President. The author masterfully juggles and merges various storylines. Her characters are strong and well developed. "The Cutout" also brings into play a moral topic which has been discussed widely, especially since 9/11. It's that old Machiavellian, "Does the end justify the means?" How far should our Intelligence operatives go, whether in dealing with evil, (working with people like Saddam Hussein, or former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega), or in perpetrating it themselves, (i.e., as inside agents, performing terrorists acts themselves, so as not to blow their cover), in order to wipe-out the larger evil? "The Cutout" makes for a compelling read and I highly recommend it. I just ordered the sequel, "Blown."
JANA
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