Teheran Contract

by Gayle Rivers

Recounts the harrowing rescue mission--Operation Blue Fire--led by the author, a mercenary arms dealer, and six special forces agents, of a wealthy, internationally important Jewish family from Khomeini's revolutionary tribunal

Genres: History

260 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1982

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came out in 1981/82. I decided to pick it up since it was from the same author of "The Five Fingers". `1982 was the one and only time I read this book. Again, it has been in my collection for over forty years. I thought I'd give it another read.

I'm glad I re-read it. It's a good read. I liked the way it started out by leading up to the operation, the operation itself, then the conclusion. It wasn't all shoot'um up, bang bang type.

It's a shame the author(s) didn't write more books. I would have certainly bought them.

[Artie O’Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Teheran Contract recounts a true story about mercenaries embarking on a rescue mission to save three boys and a father. The operation proved to be a complex endeavor for the mercenaries, deviating significantly from their initial expectations. The book's narrative is engagingly presented, reading more like a novel than a non-fiction account. Overall, it is a compelling read that is highly recommended.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The spine of the book says "non-fiction", but I have a hard time believing that. Some things that occur in the book seem fairly far-fetched, especially an episode near the end involving a special kind of Canadian-made airplane. I tried to research the book and found very little. The author's other book "The Five Fingers" seems to be purposefully vague on the whether it's fiction or not. This quote is from the description of "The Five Fingers": If it's fiction it's unbelievably harrowing. If it's fact it's incredibly terrifying.

The author has also written similar-styled merc novels which are complete fiction. So I was dissappointed to find out after I finished the book that it may be something less than non-fiction.

However, the book is still an incredible story full of intensity and action. The first part of the book describes the process of entering into a mercenary "contract", which I though was very well done. The characters are interesting and well-formed and the pacing of the story is excellent. I'm certainly looking forward to reading his other book "The Five Fingers".

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of a mission, led by Gayle Rivers, to rescue a family of Iranian dissidents from revolutionary Tehran around 1980.

Not bloody like Rivers' earlier The Five Fingers, this book is more like a middlebrow suspense thriller.

This was the third Rivers book I read after The Five Fingers and The Specialist. This has a limited audience, but the subject matter is interesting, and Rivers' writing as no-nonsense, as usual.

If you haven't read Rivers before, you're better off starting with the hard-hitting The Five Fingers.