Intelligence: You Decide

Susan Hasler’s debut novel, Intelligence, set deep in the working bowels of the CIA, is engrossing and terrifying, while also being very, very funny. Counter-terrorism intelligence analyst Maddie James knows deep in her Maalox-coated gut that another terrorist strike is imminent but the powers that be don’t want to hear about it. The CIA has just shut down a terrorist cell in Lahore and wants to bask in the glory of that success without any interference from the Mines (where Maddie works, the agency responsible for gathering and assessing foreign intelligence for the President).

As if the dismissive, head-in-the-sand position of the big shots wasn’t terrifying enough, what happens when Maddie turns out to be right about an imminent strike is downright chilling: despite the fact that there is no evidence linking the strike to Iran, the administration is hungry for war with Iran and makes up whatever evidence is needed to support their war-mongering (and suppresses and even destroys whatever evidence contravenes their dastardly plans). Hasler spent 21 years in the CIA and her every depiction of how intelligence is gathered, used, manipulated, and ignored sounds believable and well-founded, leaving me with my jaw dropped and my spine chilled.

So where is the funny part? The characters Hasler has come up with are laugh-out loud hysterical. She creates each one with details that are unique and compelling. There is the former ballerina turned back-aching lunatic Maddie (lunatic in action only — her intelligence is spot on); Maddie’s bed-jumping, kitsch-loving mother; co-worker Vivian who rescues possums and plays nice; and Maddie’s arch nemesis Dr. Beth Dean (nicknamed “Dr. Death Bean”), to name just a few. Oh, and I cannot forget Vaughn Sutter Wayne, a former CIA head, now dead but most certainly not gone. He offers up the occasional “Musings from an Unquiet Grave” for laughs and even more chills.

Are these the people who stand between us and the terrorists? Every one of Hasler’s characters are very real humans, some trying to get the job of finding and fighting the bad guys done right, some trying to rise up the ladder of leadership, and some just trying to get by. I can only hope that in real life, the work they do is more effective, the toll the job takes on their own lives is less destructive, and the leadership they are provided is more humane, creative, and honest.

Hasler’s Intelligence is fun, riveting, thought-provoking, and sure to keep you up at night, either to finish the book or to fear what is coming next, not only from the terrorists but from the agencies we’ve trusted to battle against them.