Kamran Esfahani, a dentist, narrates his tale of woe. He
is sitting in a torture cell and writing his confession over
and over, for years. The enemy keeps hoping he will reveal
more details. THE PERSIAN is not an easy read. Violence and
menace are never far from the surface.
The title may refer to the dichotomy and contradictions
of being a Persian Jew. Or it may refer to a widow, Roya,
who, with her little girl Alya, survives an assassination
attack on her husband. The Mossad actors pulling the trigger
were under strict orders to get the principal terrorist
only, but that did not deter them from ambushing his car
when his wife and child were in the back. Roya doesnβt
know that she escaped by more than just luck.
Arik Glitzman, an agent for Mossad, the Israeli secret
service, recruited Kamran from his Scandinavian home to help
with their clandestine activities. The isolated nation of
Iran, harsh on women and getting weapons from Russia, is
determined to strike opponents, so Mossad has targeted
assassinations for principal actors. Naturally, the Iranians
are determined to track them down and hit back. So, you can
see that readers are in for some potentially newsworthy
content, set just a few years ago, with modern drone and
digital warfare.
I got on great with an earlier book or two by David
McCloskey, but with the visceral imagery and ongoing torture
of women and men in his current effort, I stopped liking the
man, let alone his work. I donβt read horror, and it
seems to me that living in the land described would be
tantamount to a horror story. The senseless killing of each
side by the other, removing the brightest and hardest-
working members of society, revealing the constant hatred
and paranoia, the minute tracking and plotting of lives and
deaths, by two countries which are neighbours, ought to be
ended.
Sometimes we need a book like this to bring reality home
to outsiders. THE PERSIAN is much less readable by women
than the earlier books, and some people wonβt have the
stomach for it. David McCloskey, no doubt, feels this is a
story that needs to be told.
Kamran Esfahani, a dentist living out a dreary existence in Stockholm, agrees to spy for the Mossad after he’s recruited by Arik Glitzman, the chief of a clandestine unit tasked with running targeted assassinations and sabotage inside Iran. At Glitzman’s direction, Kam returns to his native Tehran and opens a dental practice there, using it as a cover for the Israeli intelligence agency. Kam proves to be a skillful asset, quietly earning money helping Glitzman smuggle weapons, run surveillance, and conduct kidnappings. But when Kam tries to recruit an Iranian widow seeking to avenge the death of her husband at the hands of the Mossad, the operation goes terribly wrong, landing him in prison under the watchful eye of a sadistic officer whom he knows only as the “General.”
And now, after enduring three years of torture in captivity, Kamran Esfahani sits in an interrogation room across from the General, preparing to write his final confession.
Kam knows it is too late to save himself. But he has managed to keep one secret—only one—and he just might be able to save that. In this haunting thriller, careening between Tehran and Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Stockholm, David McCloskey delivers an intricate story of vengeance, deceit, and the power of love and forgiveness in a world of lies.
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