Claire Berlinski, the fictional counterpart, is a writer
living in Paris who is working on her next novel. While
attempting to write, Claire procrastinates by checking her
e-mail. She receives an e-mail from a guy who is
interested in her first book LOOSE LIPS, incidentally the
same title as the real Claire Berlinski's first book. He
cannot purchase a copy of her book on the Internet since
no one will deliver to the Iranian village where he lives,
and he wants to know if he can order a copy from her
publisher. On a whim, Claire sends him a complimentary
copy of her book by e-mail. Thus begins the affair
between Claire and Arsalan, the man she thinks of as the
lion. What could come from a simple exchange of letters?
Arsalan Safavi is a Persian archaeologist who has recently
lost his mother. He turns to Claire for advice such as
how to take care of his mother's cat, or what to serve at
a dinner party. During one of his correspondences with
Claire, he asks her to swap houses for a couple of months
with a colleague of his. The colleague needs to finish
some research that takes him to Paris, and Claire can use
a change of scenery in Istanbul to work on her novel. In
Istanbul, Claire happens to run into a CIA agent who has
been monitoring her e-mail exchange with Arsalan. Who is
the man that she has been communicating with?
As their relationship progresses, Arsalan asks whether he
should come to a seminar in Paris. In anticipation of
meeting Arsalan face to face, Claire hosts a dinner
party. The other guests in attendance are people Claire
keeps in contact with throughout the book including the
CIA agent. Is Arsalan the man she thinks he is? Will
their relationship work out?
Claire Berlinski has written a fabulous, multi-faceted
novel. I enjoyed the intricacies of Claire's friendships
that kept the story going. Her friends are a quirky cast
of characters, and each one offers a fascinating side
story. A major portion of the story is told by e-mail
exchanges which appeal to all of us who are addicted to
that form of communication. LION EYES is a wonderfully
written novel that takes a simple act such as responding
to e-mail and plunges us into the world of espionage.
In Lion Eyes, a fictional Claire–the author of a novel about
love
among young CIA trainees–is unsuccessfully dodging a deadly
Paris heat
wave and her even deadlier ex-boyfriend. When she receives
an e-mail
from an Iranian admirer who wonders how to obtain a copy of
Loose Lips
in his native city of Esfahan, Claire wastes no time in
replying. Her
correspondence with the mysterious stranger, Arsalan–whose
name means
“the Lion” in Persian–quickly becomes personal, then
intimate . . .
then obsessive.
As Claire heads to Istanbul to find
relief
from the heat, her electronic flirtation with Arsalan begins,
inevitably, to consume her. The boundary between reality and her
imagination blurs and then disappears. The Lion, meanwhile, is
nurturing his own powerful fantasies about the author. To
satisfy their
growing passion, they agree to meet, back in Paris, but
Claire soon
learns that someone is secretly intercepting their
communications.
Suddenly,
Claire’s romantic dreams start to dissolve. As events take an
unimagined turn, and as life begins menacingly to imitate
art, Claire
discovers that the Lion is not who she thinks he is.
Clever
and witty, Lion Eyes showcases intriguing characters, exotic
locales,
snappy double entendres, clever spy games, and the forbidden
pleasure
of reading other people’s mail. Claire Berlinski (the real
Claire
Berlinshi, that is) expertly plots out chance and chase,
love and lies,
and brings it all together with intelligence,
counterintelligence, and
a dossier full of humor.
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