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Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy
A stunning new espionage novel by a master of the genre, Beirut Station follows a young female CIA officer whose mission to assassinate a high-level, Hezbollah terrorist reveals a dark truth that puts her life at risk.
Lebanon, 2006.
The Israel-Hezbollah war is tearing Beirut apart: bombs are raining down, residents are scrambling to evacuate, and the country is on the brink of chaos.
In the midst of this turmoil, the CIA and Mossad are targeting a reclusive Hezbollah terrorist, Najib Qassem. Najib is believed to be planning the assassination of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is coming to Beirut in ten days to broker a cease-fire. The spy agencies are running out of time to eliminate the threat.
They turn to a young Lebanese-American CIA agent. Analise comes up with the perfect plan: she has befriended Qassem's grandson as his English tutor, and will use this friendship to locate the terrorist and take him out. As the plan is put into action, though, Analise begins to suspect that Mossad has a motive of its own: exploiting the war’s chaos to eliminate a generation of Lebanese political leaders.
She alerts the agency but their response is for her to drop it. Annalise is now the target and there is no one she can trust: not the CIA, not Mossad, and not the Lebanese government. And the one person she might have to trust—a reporter for the New York Times—might not be who he says he is…
A tightly-wound international thriller, Beirut Station is Paul Vidich's best novel to date.
Lebanon, 2006.
The Israel-Hezbollah war is tearing Beirut apart: bombs are raining down, residents are scrambling to evacuate, and the country is on the brink of chaos.
In the midst of this turmoil, the CIA and Mossad are targeting a reclusive Hezbollah terrorist, Najib Qassem. Najib is believed to be planning the assassination of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is coming to Beirut in ten days to broker a cease-fire. The spy agencies are running out of time to eliminate the threat.
They turn to a young Lebanese-American CIA agent. Analise comes up with the perfect plan: she has befriended Qassem's grandson as his English tutor, and will use this friendship to locate the terrorist and take him out. As the plan is put into action, though, Analise begins to suspect that Mossad has a motive of its own: exploiting the war’s chaos to eliminate a generation of Lebanese political leaders.
She alerts the agency but their response is for her to drop it. Annalise is now the target and there is no one she can trust: not the CIA, not Mossad, and not the Lebanese government. And the one person she might have to trust—a reporter for the New York Times—might not be who he says he is…
A tightly-wound international thriller, Beirut Station is Paul Vidich's best novel to date.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 3, 2023
356 people are currently reading
1688 people want to read
About the author
Paul Vidich
12 books350 followersPAUL VIDICH is the acclaimed author of The Coldest Warrior (2020), An Honorable Man (2016) and The Good Assassin (2017), and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, LitHub, CrimeReads, Fugue, The Nation, Narrative Magazine, and others. He lives in New York.
Praise for THE COLDEST WARRIOR:
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mystery/Thriller Pick for Spring 2020
Publishers Weekly and Library Journal STARRED reviews.
“Vidich . . . writes with the nuanced detail and authority of a career spook. With this outing, Vidich enters the upper ranks of espionage thriller writers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A worthwhile thriller and a valuable exposé.”—Kirkus Reviews
"Vidich presents a fast-paced, historically accurate thriller, placing him alongside other great spy authors such as John le Carré and Alan Furst. Readers of the genre will want this slow-burn chiller that shows how far government will go to keep secrets."—Library Journal (starred review)
“The Coldest Warrior is more than an entertaining and well-crafted thriller; Vidich asks questions that remain relevant today.”—JEFFERSON FLANDERS, picked as a Top Espionage Novel of 2020
Praise for AN HONORABLE MAN:
Selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the Top 10 mysteries and thrillers coming 2016.
A Booklist STARRED Review.
"Cold War spy fiction in the grand tradition--neatly plotted betrayals in that shadow world where no one can be trusted and agents are haunted by their own moral compromises." -- Joseph Kanon, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Berlin and Istanbul Passage.
"A cool, knowing, and quietly devastating thriller that vaults Paul Vidich into the ranks of such thinking-man's spy novelists as Joseph Kanon and Alan Furst. Like them, Vidich conjures not only a riveting mystery but a poignant cast of characters, a vibrant evocation of time and place, and a rich excavation of human paradox." -- Stephen Schiff, Co-Producer and writer, The Americans.
"As I read AN HONORABLE MAN, I kept coming back to George Smiley and THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. That’s how good this book is. Much like John le Carre and Eric Ambler before him, Vidich writes with a confidence that allows him to draw his characters in clean, simple strokes, creating dialogue that speaks volumes in a few spare lines while leaving even more for the reader to fathom in what’s not said at all. At the center of the novel is George Mueller, a man who walks in the considerable shadow of Smiley but with his own unique footprint, his own demons and a quiet, inner strength that sustains and defines him in endless shades of cloak and dagger gray. Pick up this book. You’ll love it." --Michael Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Chicago Way
"An Honorable Man" is wonderful -- an unputdownable mole hunt written in terse, noirish prose, driving us inexorably forward. In George Mueller, Paul Vidich has created a perfectly stoic companion to guide us through the intrigues of the red-baiting Fifties. And the story itself has the comforting feel of a classic of the genre, rediscovered in some dusty attic, a wonderful gift from the past. – Olen Steinhauer, New York Times Bestselling author of The Tourist and The Cairo Affair.
“Paul Vidich's tense, muscular thriller delivers suspense and intelligence circa 1953: Korea, Stalin, the cold war, rage brilliantly, and the hall of mirrors confronting reluctant agent George Mueller reflects myriad questions. Just how personal is the political? Is the past ever past? An Honorable Man asks universal questions whose shadows linger even now. Paul Vidich's immensely assured debut, a requiem to a time, is intensely alive, dark, silken with facts, replete with promise.” -- Jayne Anne Phillips, New York Times Bestselling author of Lark and Terminte a
Praise for THE COLDEST WARRIOR:
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mystery/Thriller Pick for Spring 2020
Publishers Weekly and Library Journal STARRED reviews.
“Vidich . . . writes with the nuanced detail and authority of a career spook. With this outing, Vidich enters the upper ranks of espionage thriller writers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A worthwhile thriller and a valuable exposé.”—Kirkus Reviews
"Vidich presents a fast-paced, historically accurate thriller, placing him alongside other great spy authors such as John le Carré and Alan Furst. Readers of the genre will want this slow-burn chiller that shows how far government will go to keep secrets."—Library Journal (starred review)
“The Coldest Warrior is more than an entertaining and well-crafted thriller; Vidich asks questions that remain relevant today.”—JEFFERSON FLANDERS, picked as a Top Espionage Novel of 2020
Praise for AN HONORABLE MAN:
Selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the Top 10 mysteries and thrillers coming 2016.
A Booklist STARRED Review.
"Cold War spy fiction in the grand tradition--neatly plotted betrayals in that shadow world where no one can be trusted and agents are haunted by their own moral compromises." -- Joseph Kanon, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Berlin and Istanbul Passage.
"A cool, knowing, and quietly devastating thriller that vaults Paul Vidich into the ranks of such thinking-man's spy novelists as Joseph Kanon and Alan Furst. Like them, Vidich conjures not only a riveting mystery but a poignant cast of characters, a vibrant evocation of time and place, and a rich excavation of human paradox." -- Stephen Schiff, Co-Producer and writer, The Americans.
"As I read AN HONORABLE MAN, I kept coming back to George Smiley and THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. That’s how good this book is. Much like John le Carre and Eric Ambler before him, Vidich writes with a confidence that allows him to draw his characters in clean, simple strokes, creating dialogue that speaks volumes in a few spare lines while leaving even more for the reader to fathom in what’s not said at all. At the center of the novel is George Mueller, a man who walks in the considerable shadow of Smiley but with his own unique footprint, his own demons and a quiet, inner strength that sustains and defines him in endless shades of cloak and dagger gray. Pick up this book. You’ll love it." --Michael Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Chicago Way
"An Honorable Man" is wonderful -- an unputdownable mole hunt written in terse, noirish prose, driving us inexorably forward. In George Mueller, Paul Vidich has created a perfectly stoic companion to guide us through the intrigues of the red-baiting Fifties. And the story itself has the comforting feel of a classic of the genre, rediscovered in some dusty attic, a wonderful gift from the past. – Olen Steinhauer, New York Times Bestselling author of The Tourist and The Cairo Affair.
“Paul Vidich's tense, muscular thriller delivers suspense and intelligence circa 1953: Korea, Stalin, the cold war, rage brilliantly, and the hall of mirrors confronting reluctant agent George Mueller reflects myriad questions. Just how personal is the political? Is the past ever past? An Honorable Man asks universal questions whose shadows linger even now. Paul Vidich's immensely assured debut, a requiem to a time, is intensely alive, dark, silken with facts, replete with promise.” -- Jayne Anne Phillips, New York Times Bestselling author of Lark and Terminte a
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
July 12, 2025
Review first published on mysteryandsuspense.com
Situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon’s coastline sits the ancient city of Beirut. It was once the hub of intellectual and cultural life within the Arab Middle East and later became a major tourist destination, but from 1975, civil war and occupation changed all that. By the time Analise arrived in the city, in 2006, a year after the assassination of the country’s Prime Minister, it had become a very dangerous place indeed. She’d been recruited into the CIA via Georgetown University and had subsequently spent some time in Iraq before her current assignment. Now, following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah forces, yet another war is in progress.
American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to make a surprise visit to the city shortly in an attempt to broker peace. But the CIA, in partnership Mossad, Israel’s equivalent body, believes that a terrorist called Najib Qassem is plotting to assassinate her. A joint team has been set up in Beirut overseen by a pair of old hands, one from each agency – their brief being to kill Qassem before he can get to Rice. It’ll be tough, as he’s known to be a seasoned and watchful operator. The role allocated to Analise is that of planner, meaning she’ll need to get close enough to Qassem to understand his movements in order that a plan can be formulated that the team can execute. To this end, she’s managed to strike up a relationship with the assassin’s grandson through her volunteer role as an English teacher at the International College.
Through Analise, we watch events play out. She’s a confident young woman who is committed to her role but is nonetheless wary not only of Qassem and those around him but also of those that would appear to be on her side. Her old school station chief is fond of a liquid lunch and is suspicious of, and forever bickering with his Mossad counterpart; all agreements between them seem to be hard fought. A Mossad agent who is working alongside her is prickly and difficult to communicate with, and she’s even caught a journalist who she’s struck up a casual relationship with snooping in her handbag. To make matters worse, now people from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces have suddenly started sniffing around, asking questions. Who can she trust – can she actually trust anyone?
Novels involving espionage can be tricky. There is always an element of smoke and mirrors in play, and it seems that an extra level of concentration is required lest you get left behind, lost in a labyrinthine narrative. But though I didn’t manage to unpick all of the hidden secrets here, I did find it an enjoyable task to follow this tale – a work of fiction superimposed on historical fact – through to its very exciting conclusion. In the end, it all made sense, all the dots satisfactorily joining up. It’s a novel that grabbed me in two ways, both positive: first and foremost it’s compelling story, one that gripped me from start to finish, but it also awakened in me a dormant interest in the complex politics of the Middle East. I found myself undertaking additional research, eager to better understand the forces and ideologies at play. This is a book that entertained me and educated me, or at least forced me to educate myself. Both noble outcomes, in my view.
My thanks to Pegasus Crime for supplying an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
Situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon’s coastline sits the ancient city of Beirut. It was once the hub of intellectual and cultural life within the Arab Middle East and later became a major tourist destination, but from 1975, civil war and occupation changed all that. By the time Analise arrived in the city, in 2006, a year after the assassination of the country’s Prime Minister, it had become a very dangerous place indeed. She’d been recruited into the CIA via Georgetown University and had subsequently spent some time in Iraq before her current assignment. Now, following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah forces, yet another war is in progress.
American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to make a surprise visit to the city shortly in an attempt to broker peace. But the CIA, in partnership Mossad, Israel’s equivalent body, believes that a terrorist called Najib Qassem is plotting to assassinate her. A joint team has been set up in Beirut overseen by a pair of old hands, one from each agency – their brief being to kill Qassem before he can get to Rice. It’ll be tough, as he’s known to be a seasoned and watchful operator. The role allocated to Analise is that of planner, meaning she’ll need to get close enough to Qassem to understand his movements in order that a plan can be formulated that the team can execute. To this end, she’s managed to strike up a relationship with the assassin’s grandson through her volunteer role as an English teacher at the International College.
Through Analise, we watch events play out. She’s a confident young woman who is committed to her role but is nonetheless wary not only of Qassem and those around him but also of those that would appear to be on her side. Her old school station chief is fond of a liquid lunch and is suspicious of, and forever bickering with his Mossad counterpart; all agreements between them seem to be hard fought. A Mossad agent who is working alongside her is prickly and difficult to communicate with, and she’s even caught a journalist who she’s struck up a casual relationship with snooping in her handbag. To make matters worse, now people from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces have suddenly started sniffing around, asking questions. Who can she trust – can she actually trust anyone?
Novels involving espionage can be tricky. There is always an element of smoke and mirrors in play, and it seems that an extra level of concentration is required lest you get left behind, lost in a labyrinthine narrative. But though I didn’t manage to unpick all of the hidden secrets here, I did find it an enjoyable task to follow this tale – a work of fiction superimposed on historical fact – through to its very exciting conclusion. In the end, it all made sense, all the dots satisfactorily joining up. It’s a novel that grabbed me in two ways, both positive: first and foremost it’s compelling story, one that gripped me from start to finish, but it also awakened in me a dormant interest in the complex politics of the Middle East. I found myself undertaking additional research, eager to better understand the forces and ideologies at play. This is a book that entertained me and educated me, or at least forced me to educate myself. Both noble outcomes, in my view.
My thanks to Pegasus Crime for supplying an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
October 13, 2024
First rate spy thriller. I added it to my TBR a few months ago after noticing it on a list of the best new espionage fiction. The plot features an American woman who works for the CIA with a status similar to Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible: If she’s caught, she will be “disavowed”.
Her mission is to coordinate with Mossad to assassinate the head of Hezbollah, using her cover as a UN employee in Beirut assisting refugees. When Israel last week actually did assassinate Hassan Nasrallah, the then current Hezbollah leader, it seemed a good time to pick up the book. Life imitating Art imitating Life and on and on and on.
The tone of the book is definitely jaded, with Annalise, the main character, becoming more and more disillusioned as the story evolves. Good guys are few and far between on these pages, regardless what side of the conflict they represent.
Thus, you’re probably not going to enjoy Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy if you have intense feelings about who is absolutely in the right or the wrong in the eternal Mideast crises. But if you can step back and approach it solely as a work of fiction that could be set in Latin America or any other conflict-prone area, and you enjoy a good spy thriller, my bet is that you’d like this one. No, it’s not John LeCarre, but it’s definitely above average.
BTW, I listened to an audio version I found on line, but I don’t recommend it. The narrator has little affect in her voice, which is OK for this kind of book, but she is prone to mispronunciations. (Because the word is used multiple times, I finally broke down and verified that “effaced” is NOT pronounced “Eff-Essed”.). It looks as if Audible will have a version in a few months, presumably with a different reader.
Her mission is to coordinate with Mossad to assassinate the head of Hezbollah, using her cover as a UN employee in Beirut assisting refugees. When Israel last week actually did assassinate Hassan Nasrallah, the then current Hezbollah leader, it seemed a good time to pick up the book. Life imitating Art imitating Life and on and on and on.
The tone of the book is definitely jaded, with Annalise, the main character, becoming more and more disillusioned as the story evolves. Good guys are few and far between on these pages, regardless what side of the conflict they represent.
Thus, you’re probably not going to enjoy Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy if you have intense feelings about who is absolutely in the right or the wrong in the eternal Mideast crises. But if you can step back and approach it solely as a work of fiction that could be set in Latin America or any other conflict-prone area, and you enjoy a good spy thriller, my bet is that you’d like this one. No, it’s not John LeCarre, but it’s definitely above average.
BTW, I listened to an audio version I found on line, but I don’t recommend it. The narrator has little affect in her voice, which is OK for this kind of book, but she is prone to mispronunciations. (Because the word is used multiple times, I finally broke down and verified that “effaced” is NOT pronounced “Eff-Essed”.). It looks as if Audible will have a version in a few months, presumably with a different reader.
November 21, 2023
No one writes nuanced, realistic, interior spy fiction quite like Vidich. Each of his books have been philosophical meditations on the various theories practiced by the nations of the world as they employ spies to seek out information and circumvent their enemies’ plans. Thematically rich, they are also CH-driven, layered portraits that highlight the gray while also imbuing the light and the dark with sharply drawn lines. Analisa, in this novel is a Lebanese American employed by the CIA with a UN cover, and she tightropes between who she is and who she is portraying in order to target a Hezbollah assassin in 2006. Politics are tricky, dirty, and sometimes ambiguous as she navigates her way through Beirut, other Americans, journalists, the Mossad and the Lebanese authorities, as well as the Hezbollah. Plotting is twisty but the story easily followed as the Tone builds and the Pace increases as the danger to our heroine heightens. Vidich makes us flinch at the visceral violence, searing hatred, and brutality as he tells a tale of betrayal and loyalty, with the heat of the Middle East, the homes and streets of Lebanon, the bombings, the traffic, the foreign players adding to the ambiance with details on clothing, food, drink, and the weather contributing to the Tone. Reading this as the Middle East Israeli/Hamas debacle is occurring made the thematic material and the reality of war on humanity challenging and illuminating in turns. Readers who have not read the author’s books, take note as well as fans of David McCloskey, Jonathan de Shalit, and/or Olen Steinhauer. Red flags: Very Violent; Danger to Children
October 23, 2023
I am always resistant to the "author x is the next (Le Carre, Deighton, Graham, pick one)". Mr. Vidich is not the next anyone. He is the only Paul Vidich, and his writing is mature, brilliant, and grounded. This book is all of those things. This is an exceptional read.
Read
January 2, 2025absolutely first rate spy novel. off to read the entire Vidich oeuvre.
August 18, 2024
This book was fantastic; from the writing, the characters, the story… wow. I absolutely loved it.
January 14, 2024
Always brilliant. I can't wait for your next book, and the one after that, and the one after that....
February 18, 2025
I wanted to like this book more; it's a fairly suspenseful espionage tale, competently researched and plotted, set in a part of the world that interests me. So why did it irritate me?
I'll get to that. First, the good: Set in 2006 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the book follows Analise Asad, a young Lebanese-American woman working in Beirut for a UN refugee agency but secretly under non-official cover for the CIA. She is nearing the end of a tour that has frazzled her nerves and probably destroyed her marriage; before she can leave Beirut she has one more job to carry out, setting up a top Hezbollah killer to be assassinated in a joint Israeli-American operation. This will involve a non-negligible element of betrayal, as she has befriended the killer's family. She is working closely with the CIA station chief in Beirut, a burned-out case, and a pair of hard-guy Israeli operatives. Just to complicate matters, she is carrying on a tepid romantic liaison with a New York Times correspondent who is starting to suspect she is more than just a UN functionary. What could go wrong?
Any number of things, as it happens, and it all makes for a pretty good story. I kept reading, and I found it reasonably convincing and compelling. The only problem was the writing. Every few pages I would run across something that made me shake my head. For example, on page 19 we are told that "[Aldrich, the CIA station chief] was at the technician's side in one long stride and his entire body vibrated with indignation." A mere six pages later, on page 25, in a different context we again find "Aldrich's entire body vibrated with indignation." A copy editor should have flagged that repetition. And then there were the attempts at literary flourishes that didn't quite work, like "The dark sea was lost in the extravagant pastels that washed across the table where the two Americans sat." Still trying to picture that. Oh, and the botched French dialogue, "Je le croirai guard je le verrai" instead of "... quand je le verrai". It all gave the impression of a writer straining to be just a bit more sophisticated than he was really capable of.
Quibbles, maybe, but it irked me because it's basically a good book, and a little more attentive editing would have improved it. A decent read if a little wayward prose doesn't bother you.
I'll get to that. First, the good: Set in 2006 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the book follows Analise Asad, a young Lebanese-American woman working in Beirut for a UN refugee agency but secretly under non-official cover for the CIA. She is nearing the end of a tour that has frazzled her nerves and probably destroyed her marriage; before she can leave Beirut she has one more job to carry out, setting up a top Hezbollah killer to be assassinated in a joint Israeli-American operation. This will involve a non-negligible element of betrayal, as she has befriended the killer's family. She is working closely with the CIA station chief in Beirut, a burned-out case, and a pair of hard-guy Israeli operatives. Just to complicate matters, she is carrying on a tepid romantic liaison with a New York Times correspondent who is starting to suspect she is more than just a UN functionary. What could go wrong?
Any number of things, as it happens, and it all makes for a pretty good story. I kept reading, and I found it reasonably convincing and compelling. The only problem was the writing. Every few pages I would run across something that made me shake my head. For example, on page 19 we are told that "[Aldrich, the CIA station chief] was at the technician's side in one long stride and his entire body vibrated with indignation." A mere six pages later, on page 25, in a different context we again find "Aldrich's entire body vibrated with indignation." A copy editor should have flagged that repetition. And then there were the attempts at literary flourishes that didn't quite work, like "The dark sea was lost in the extravagant pastels that washed across the table where the two Americans sat." Still trying to picture that. Oh, and the botched French dialogue, "Je le croirai guard je le verrai" instead of "... quand je le verrai". It all gave the impression of a writer straining to be just a bit more sophisticated than he was really capable of.
Quibbles, maybe, but it irked me because it's basically a good book, and a little more attentive editing would have improved it. A decent read if a little wayward prose doesn't bother you.
October 5, 2023
With his newest novel, “Beirut Station,” author Paul Vidich has given us a cerebral, moody, absorbing tale of espionage laced with action and suspense. It’s a story more reminiscent of John le Carré than Ian Fleming or Robert Ludlum. There are no heroes, only spies and assassins.
The time is 2006. The place is Beirut, Lebanon. Analise Assad, a young, intelligent, and attractive Lebanese-American Georgetown graduate, has recently joined the CIA. Now, she is part of an American-Israeli team charged with taking out Hezbollah terrorist Najib Qassem before he can assassinate US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her upcoming visit. To be successful, Analise will have to exploit a number of people, including several possible love interests, as well as two teens depending on her to help them escape their war-torn country.
Mr. Vidich seems to have done a ton of research to give us a very realistic story. He writes knowingly and with nuance about Lebanese history and politics, the city of Beirut, Israeli and American foreign policy objectives, espionage and terrorist tradecraft, what it means to be an intelligence officer (at both the senior and junior levels), and the emotional toll the profession can exact. His main characters have depth and complexity and are compelling. He’s successful at showing us the sights, sounds, and smells of a 2006 Beirut under assault and the city during earlier, more peaceful times.
I did have some trouble getting into the story. If, like me, you’re not all that familiar with (or have forgotten) what was going on in Lebanon during the latter part of George W. Bush’s presidency, you might feel somewhat lost. (However, a quick trip to Wikipedia’s Lebanon article solved the problem for me.) Mr. Vidich also doesn’t hesitate to interrupt his story’s progress to explain what his characters are thinking and feeling. While those digressions do add immensely to the novel, giving it something of a literary quality, they do take some getting used to.
Those who are fans of fiction and non-fiction tales about espionage should find much to enjoy in "Beirut Station."
The time is 2006. The place is Beirut, Lebanon. Analise Assad, a young, intelligent, and attractive Lebanese-American Georgetown graduate, has recently joined the CIA. Now, she is part of an American-Israeli team charged with taking out Hezbollah terrorist Najib Qassem before he can assassinate US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her upcoming visit. To be successful, Analise will have to exploit a number of people, including several possible love interests, as well as two teens depending on her to help them escape their war-torn country.
Mr. Vidich seems to have done a ton of research to give us a very realistic story. He writes knowingly and with nuance about Lebanese history and politics, the city of Beirut, Israeli and American foreign policy objectives, espionage and terrorist tradecraft, what it means to be an intelligence officer (at both the senior and junior levels), and the emotional toll the profession can exact. His main characters have depth and complexity and are compelling. He’s successful at showing us the sights, sounds, and smells of a 2006 Beirut under assault and the city during earlier, more peaceful times.
I did have some trouble getting into the story. If, like me, you’re not all that familiar with (or have forgotten) what was going on in Lebanon during the latter part of George W. Bush’s presidency, you might feel somewhat lost. (However, a quick trip to Wikipedia’s Lebanon article solved the problem for me.) Mr. Vidich also doesn’t hesitate to interrupt his story’s progress to explain what his characters are thinking and feeling. While those digressions do add immensely to the novel, giving it something of a literary quality, they do take some getting used to.
Those who are fans of fiction and non-fiction tales about espionage should find much to enjoy in "Beirut Station."
January 9, 2024
Beirut Station by Paul Vidich published by Bedford Square Publishers on 4th January 2024
🖋5🌟review🖋
Set in war-torn Beirut in 2006, this novel evoked memories of the destruction playing out across the news in front of me. The author vividly recreates those images and brings alive the sights, sounds and flavours of the city.
The writing is sophisticated, elegant, with a depth of understanding at its core, displaying the research behind the story and creating authentic characters and locations that resonated with me. When I consider previous novels I have read in this genre, having a female character at the heart of the story brought a new perspective. The mix of her CIA training, resolute conviction to the USA’s cause and occasional vulnerability, endeared her to me.
The story centres on the complex interactions between allies and their enemies, who each carry their own agenda, in the maelstrom of destruction and chaos brought about by a war in a city. As the individual characters play out their parts, they are but small cogs in the machine of international governments and terror organisations . Their spy craft and its obfuscation is beautifully articulated, woven into the textures and culture of this fascinating city.
The characters individual motivations, conflicts of interest, and consciences are blended together and you can feel the anxiety grow, as doubts surface and you simply don’t know who to trust. Ever watchful of their surroundings, focussed on their desired outcomes, the tension builds as external forces and higher powers come into play.
A throughly enjoyable novel that brought to life the central character at the heart of the narrative, the smells, sounds, culture and texture of the tortured city of Beirut.
This was my first novel by Paul Vidich, whose writing is akin to LeCarre and comes highly recommended, so it won’t be my last.
🖋5🌟review🖋
Set in war-torn Beirut in 2006, this novel evoked memories of the destruction playing out across the news in front of me. The author vividly recreates those images and brings alive the sights, sounds and flavours of the city.
The writing is sophisticated, elegant, with a depth of understanding at its core, displaying the research behind the story and creating authentic characters and locations that resonated with me. When I consider previous novels I have read in this genre, having a female character at the heart of the story brought a new perspective. The mix of her CIA training, resolute conviction to the USA’s cause and occasional vulnerability, endeared her to me.
The story centres on the complex interactions between allies and their enemies, who each carry their own agenda, in the maelstrom of destruction and chaos brought about by a war in a city. As the individual characters play out their parts, they are but small cogs in the machine of international governments and terror organisations . Their spy craft and its obfuscation is beautifully articulated, woven into the textures and culture of this fascinating city.
The characters individual motivations, conflicts of interest, and consciences are blended together and you can feel the anxiety grow, as doubts surface and you simply don’t know who to trust. Ever watchful of their surroundings, focussed on their desired outcomes, the tension builds as external forces and higher powers come into play.
A throughly enjoyable novel that brought to life the central character at the heart of the narrative, the smells, sounds, culture and texture of the tortured city of Beirut.
This was my first novel by Paul Vidich, whose writing is akin to LeCarre and comes highly recommended, so it won’t be my last.
January 5, 2024
Really good at setting the scene in Beirut- the sights, the sounds, the smells as well as the language and the food. Accurate descriptions of the city. It a slow moving story with secondary characters not fully explained. Set up for a trilogy.
November 13, 2023
Well written , as usual , but clearly the author wanted to write an anti Israel book. Great timing !!! Shame on him. There is enough anti Zionism and anti semitism in the world. Did not need this fact to be reinforced. Am yisroel chai!!!!
April 20, 2024
Set over 20 years ago, contemporary events have, as usual, overtaken some of the contemporary geopolitics.
Very good page turner and reads like a TV mini series.
I was disappointed by the last two chapters of the narrative, so only 3*.
Very good page turner and reads like a TV mini series.
I was disappointed by the last two chapters of the narrative, so only 3*.
April 26, 2024
Spies! CIA. Hezbollah. Mossad. Spies!
March 20, 2024
Extremely taught mideast spy thriller
This takes place in Beirut during a recent Israeli war but not the October 7 war. The author paints a very realistic and detailed picture of modern-day Beirut. You can feel the dust in the street. The protagonist is a woman who is ethnically Lebanese, working with refugees, having an affair with an American reporter, and also working for the CIA. It's really tight and entertaining. Not particularly pro Israel or US but a very human story about a woman being pulled in so many directions. It's a great story and a total page turner. I couldn't put it down. Stayed up way past my bedtime.
This takes place in Beirut during a recent Israeli war but not the October 7 war. The author paints a very realistic and detailed picture of modern-day Beirut. You can feel the dust in the street. The protagonist is a woman who is ethnically Lebanese, working with refugees, having an affair with an American reporter, and also working for the CIA. It's really tight and entertaining. Not particularly pro Israel or US but a very human story about a woman being pulled in so many directions. It's a great story and a total page turner. I couldn't put it down. Stayed up way past my bedtime.
January 4, 2024
An undercover CIA agent finds herself in the midst of a grand conspiracy involving the Mossad and several rebel factions. As part of her assigned task, she hatches a plan to assassinate an important leader. However, as the days draw near, her commanding officer has second thoughts about the assassination. Things only go downhill from there for her, and she finds that she is on her own if she is to outlive those out to get her.
November 6, 2023
timely read
The prose and research for the book are expertly woven together. It is very timely given our current world events in the Middle East. I thoroughly enjoyed this second novel and found it difficult to put down. Great read!
The prose and research for the book are expertly woven together. It is very timely given our current world events in the Middle East. I thoroughly enjoyed this second novel and found it difficult to put down. Great read!
August 18, 2024
Very well written, quick pace. Good novel.
October 15, 2024
Tautly-written and based on the premise that geo-politics is fucked. Read if you like tragedies where moral cause is a great label to put on whatever violence you’re planning on committing today.
November 25, 2024
When nobody is who they seem to be, who do you trust? A first rate spy thriller centred on a female spy caught between two worlds and surrounded be people who all have their own agenda.
December 24, 2024
Excellent spy thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Tense and well written. I hope there’s a sequel. I will definitely checkout the writer’s earlier work.
August 13, 2023
It is nice to see behind the "glamor" of a female spy and how she navigates through the Middle East. Excellent
January 18, 2024
What a timely moment in time to read this book.
I have admired Paul Vidich from afar for a long time.
With this book, I admire him up close.
He is a thought-provoking, evocative and sensual writer.
Brilliant
I have admired Paul Vidich from afar for a long time.
With this book, I admire him up close.
He is a thought-provoking, evocative and sensual writer.
Brilliant
June 30, 2024
With the release of “Beirut Station,” Paul Vidich has firmly established his position as the preeminent spy writer, following the legacy of John Le Carré. Vidich writes literary espionage fiction as opposed to the paramilitary tough guy spy pulp. I liked Vidich’s nuanced approach in “Beirut Station,” where we’re not clear who the real adversary or ally is. The winning protagonist, Lebanese-American CIA NOC (non-official cover) Analise, operates in murky waters full of sharks, and she just might be bait.
Read
June 4, 2025tried something new here and not sure it was for me
December 12, 2023
A strong candidate for the worst book of the year in my list.
Convoluted plot
Slow story
Cliched language
Lazy characters
Convoluted plot
Slow story
Cliched language
Lazy characters
May 11, 2024
While I've never been there, Vidich has a remarkable talent in taking the reader to the locale and immersing you in the environment. You can see Beirut through his eyes in this book, and also get a clear sense of the war zone to the south. Hezbollah is also better understood through his perspective, as are the lives of the Lebanese residents.
March 31, 2024
Lebanon: fluid personalities and mercurial social structures
Is spy work any different from other government bureaucracies, academic structures, or corporate hierarchies? In other words, do workers necessarily establish several identities to achieve short and long range goals? When skill sets include assassination, how do individuals redefine trust and teamwork? Is "self" allowed to think and make decisions?
Is spy work any different from other government bureaucracies, academic structures, or corporate hierarchies? In other words, do workers necessarily establish several identities to achieve short and long range goals? When skill sets include assassination, how do individuals redefine trust and teamwork? Is "self" allowed to think and make decisions?
June 17, 2024
I am divided. The writing is crisp, clean and flows so well. It is taught and well edited.. I get the broader storyline, and I get beirut. It's just... when I bought this book and looked at the reviews before purchase, I had heightened expectations of it. Unfortunately, the book remained underwhelming till the end. It remained on the precipice of greatness. Every moment, it felt like the book would soar now. But it didn't. The characters- especially Corbin (male white boi journalist in the field with a broken marriage, drinker and womanizer), come across as stereotypical, and the ending left me baffled, disappointed and feeling as if the author was wondering whether to definitively end it or leave it a bit open so he could build a sequel on it. Not very convinced, and a tad bit disappointed by the book and the promise it held. Also, I am sorry but Analise's non official cover would be blown in less than a day by anyone- in one place she is listed as an interpreter for UNHCR and in another place as someone who decides on refugee files (decides what exactly) - for a written of spy novels, this is a major lapse. Interpreters interpret. They don't "decide" on refugee files - whatever that means in this case.
February 5, 2024
‼️ Banger alert ‼️
Beirut Station by Paul Vidich was a gripping read - took a little while to get into it, but the final third of the book was a master class in the art of the spy thriller novel. The writing gives shades of John Le Carré, undisputed founding father of the genre, but avoids going too far into copycat mode or taking a left turn into the ridiculous. That style of prose sometimes struggles to deliver attention-grabbers, but Vidich succeeds.
Vidich spins a nice mix of real life characters (Condi Rice, Nebbi Berri, Bush) with fictional representations of Hezbollah bad guys. The core concept of the book is a clear rewrite of the assassination of Hezbollah ops chief Imad Mughniyeh (insane story, read the Wikipedia), a story with which every Middle East buff is familiar, but Beirut Station delivers a crazy twist to that well-trod ground to keep it fresh. The main cast of characters was highly believable, a nice mix of modern people and self-aware Cold War holdovers, and I found myself pretty bought in to each storyline. He even made the journalist annoying.
4 stars out of 5 on this one as it hit my preferred style of book square on the head. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beirut Station by Paul Vidich was a gripping read - took a little while to get into it, but the final third of the book was a master class in the art of the spy thriller novel. The writing gives shades of John Le Carré, undisputed founding father of the genre, but avoids going too far into copycat mode or taking a left turn into the ridiculous. That style of prose sometimes struggles to deliver attention-grabbers, but Vidich succeeds.
Vidich spins a nice mix of real life characters (Condi Rice, Nebbi Berri, Bush) with fictional representations of Hezbollah bad guys. The core concept of the book is a clear rewrite of the assassination of Hezbollah ops chief Imad Mughniyeh (insane story, read the Wikipedia), a story with which every Middle East buff is familiar, but Beirut Station delivers a crazy twist to that well-trod ground to keep it fresh. The main cast of characters was highly believable, a nice mix of modern people and self-aware Cold War holdovers, and I found myself pretty bought in to each storyline. He even made the journalist annoying.
4 stars out of 5 on this one as it hit my preferred style of book square on the head. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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