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Vanessa Pierson #1
By Valerie Plame Blowback: A Vanessa Pierson Novel (Reissue) [Mass Market Paperback]
More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.
Unknown Binding
First published December 31, 2012
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June 1, 2021
As the story opens, beautiful, blonde CIA operative Vanessa Pierson is meeting her Iranian asset - a nuclear physicist - in Vienna.
The physicist reveals that the CIA's nemesis Bhoot, an international arms supplier, will soon be visiting a nuclear facility in Iran. Before the informant can reveal the facility's location he's assassinated by Chechen sharpshooter Pauk.
Vanessa soon learns that Pauk has been killing off her assets far and wide. Is there a leak in the CIA? Driven to protect both her assets and her country Vanessa sets off on a country-hopping odyssey to find the location of the nuclear facility, capture Bhoot, and stop Pauk.
During Vanessa's quest she feels compelled to insure the safety of her Iranian informant's family; get a hidden message decoded; have a couple of shoot-outs with Pauk; and engage in a prohibited romantic dalliance with a fellow CIA operative.
Vanessa is a kind of daredevil rogue agent who defies rules so she has to hide much of this activity from her bosses in the CIA. Unfortunately this maneuver may just get her thrown off the case. 😒
Blowback is a fast-paced story with plenty of action but limited depth. A good choice for a beach or vacation read.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
October 2, 2013
This comes out today!
I received an advanced copy of this book for review from First Reads.
Valerie Plame came across my radar in the early 2000s during what was called "Plamegate" and "The Plame Affair"-in the media. It involved some of the higher ups in the Bush administration- several possibly involved (Dick Chaney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Richard Armitage) in the "outing/naming" of a CIA counter-proliferation agent (Plame), to a reporter of The Washington Post (Robert Novak). It was quite a scandal. According to some: Valerie Plame's outing to the press, was retaliation by government officials because of Valerie husband's (Joe Wilson) public statements about whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad and whether there had been sufficient proof before the US invaded, he thought...not.
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(This of course is my simplified and possibly somewhat confused version of "Plamegate". If this sounds interesting to you there is a non-fiction book and a movie: both called "Fair Game" based on Valerie Plame's version of the events. I have not read the book...but the movie is quite good!)
So what is a former CIA undercover agent who is no longer undercover to do??... Well, co-write a fiction spy novel of course....
Covert CIA officer Vanessa Pierson is trying to capture -Bhoot alias The Ghost: An international nuclear arms dealer. One of her assets: Arash- has information of Bhoot's whereabouts. Just as Arash is about to give her the location, they are ambushed. Vanessa narrowly escapes, her asset Arash is dead.
I flew through BLOWBACK by Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett in a very short time (for me). Once I had started it I really didn't want to put it down...but sometimes real life gets in the way doesn't it? Every time I had a spare moment I was picking it up so I could read a few chapters. I almost gave it 5 stars, but I decided not to, because sometimes I think 5 stars does an injustice by placing the novel on a scale where people will be disappointed (Recently I gave a 5-star rating to Night Film and I think that some readers may have had very high expectations after my excited gushing review about it.)
Sooooooo let me just say that to me a 5 star rating is just what it says on GR "I-thought-it-was-Aaaawesooome!" It doesn't necessarily mean that a book should win the Pulitzer Prize...it means I didn't just like it a lot, I loved it!!... more than...cheese, even...and I really LOVE cheese!
I loved BLOWBACK, it ticked all the boxes for me in a spy thriller. A great likable main character, tight plot-line, fast paced, and never dull or confusing. This is a great start to a series, and I will be waiting in anticipation for her/their next book.
I received an advanced copy of this book for review from First Reads.
Valerie Plame came across my radar in the early 2000s during what was called "Plamegate" and "The Plame Affair"-in the media. It involved some of the higher ups in the Bush administration- several possibly involved (Dick Chaney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Richard Armitage) in the "outing/naming" of a CIA counter-proliferation agent (Plame), to a reporter of The Washington Post (Robert Novak). It was quite a scandal. According to some: Valerie Plame's outing to the press, was retaliation by government officials because of Valerie husband's (Joe Wilson) public statements about whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad and whether there had been sufficient proof before the US invaded, he thought...not.
(This of course is my simplified and possibly somewhat confused version of "Plamegate". If this sounds interesting to you there is a non-fiction book and a movie: both called "Fair Game" based on Valerie Plame's version of the events. I have not read the book...but the movie is quite good!)
So what is a former CIA undercover agent who is no longer undercover to do??... Well, co-write a fiction spy novel of course....
Covert CIA officer Vanessa Pierson is trying to capture -Bhoot alias The Ghost: An international nuclear arms dealer. One of her assets: Arash- has information of Bhoot's whereabouts. Just as Arash is about to give her the location, they are ambushed. Vanessa narrowly escapes, her asset Arash is dead.
I flew through BLOWBACK by Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett in a very short time (for me). Once I had started it I really didn't want to put it down...but sometimes real life gets in the way doesn't it? Every time I had a spare moment I was picking it up so I could read a few chapters. I almost gave it 5 stars, but I decided not to, because sometimes I think 5 stars does an injustice by placing the novel on a scale where people will be disappointed (Recently I gave a 5-star rating to Night Film and I think that some readers may have had very high expectations after my excited gushing review about it.)
Sooooooo let me just say that to me a 5 star rating is just what it says on GR "I-thought-it-was-Aaaawesooome!" It doesn't necessarily mean that a book should win the Pulitzer Prize...it means I didn't just like it a lot, I loved it!!... more than...cheese, even...and I really LOVE cheese!
I loved BLOWBACK, it ticked all the boxes for me in a spy thriller. A great likable main character, tight plot-line, fast paced, and never dull or confusing. This is a great start to a series, and I will be waiting in anticipation for her/their next book.
April 22, 2017
Each time I put it down I was not eager to get back to it.
This was cowritten by Valerie Plame (used to work for the CIA) and Sarah Lovett (a writer). Blowback is the first novel in a spy series about a CIA operative named Vanessa Pierson.
I feel like the authors created a detailed outline of events to happen, and then they filled in the blanks. It was one long list of things happening like the following: she meets with her bosses, she flies somewhere, she talks on the phone, she drives to meet with “X”, X is late but he finally arrives, they start to talk, a sniper shoots X, she runs after the sniper maybe shooting at him or following him until she loses him, then she returns to her bosses to explain why it went wrong, then she flies somewhere else... I felt like the book was just going on and on and on with events like this.
I was not emotionally drawn in. I want an interesting character. I want interesting relationships with interesting dialogue. Sol Stein recommends something that these authors did not do. He has a fabulous book on writing with ten commandments for writers. The first two commandments are:
1. Do not sprinkle characters into a preconceived plot. In the beginning was the character.
2. Imbue your heroes with faults and your villains with charm. For it is the faults of the hero that bring forth his life, just as the charm of the villain is the honey with which he lures the innocent.
Blowback is missing 1 and 2 above. I saw no faults in the heroine other than some bad luck when she was trying to shoot someone, or trying to follow someone, or bad luck when things went wrong at a meeting.
The events are probably technically accurate because a former CIA operative is helping to write. That’s important to some readers, but not to me.
I stopped reading at page 237 and then read the last 20 pages.
The ending appears successful for one problem, but a bad guy remains on the loose - to be continued.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 375 pages. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words but not often used. Sexual content: none in the parts I read. Setting: current day various countries mostly U.S., European Union, Mideast. Copyright: 2013. Genre: spy suspense.
This was cowritten by Valerie Plame (used to work for the CIA) and Sarah Lovett (a writer). Blowback is the first novel in a spy series about a CIA operative named Vanessa Pierson.
I feel like the authors created a detailed outline of events to happen, and then they filled in the blanks. It was one long list of things happening like the following: she meets with her bosses, she flies somewhere, she talks on the phone, she drives to meet with “X”, X is late but he finally arrives, they start to talk, a sniper shoots X, she runs after the sniper maybe shooting at him or following him until she loses him, then she returns to her bosses to explain why it went wrong, then she flies somewhere else... I felt like the book was just going on and on and on with events like this.
I was not emotionally drawn in. I want an interesting character. I want interesting relationships with interesting dialogue. Sol Stein recommends something that these authors did not do. He has a fabulous book on writing with ten commandments for writers. The first two commandments are:
1. Do not sprinkle characters into a preconceived plot. In the beginning was the character.
2. Imbue your heroes with faults and your villains with charm. For it is the faults of the hero that bring forth his life, just as the charm of the villain is the honey with which he lures the innocent.
Blowback is missing 1 and 2 above. I saw no faults in the heroine other than some bad luck when she was trying to shoot someone, or trying to follow someone, or bad luck when things went wrong at a meeting.
The events are probably technically accurate because a former CIA operative is helping to write. That’s important to some readers, but not to me.
I stopped reading at page 237 and then read the last 20 pages.
The ending appears successful for one problem, but a bad guy remains on the loose - to be continued.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 375 pages. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words but not often used. Sexual content: none in the parts I read. Setting: current day various countries mostly U.S., European Union, Mideast. Copyright: 2013. Genre: spy suspense.
October 12, 2013
BLOWBACK—Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett
If you are looking for trouble, Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett deliver a straight shot of it. Call it payback. Call it retribution if you want. Only this one is not about getting even. Blowback is all that and so much more. This is the real deal from someone who is the real deal. Ten years ago Plame wasn't simply sitting around polishing her nails or working on her smile. She was out there in the cold with everything on the line.
Valerie Plame is the survivor they couldn't count out. Now she’s back, standing tall and laying it all out for the world to see. Today’s stakes aren't about the rich, petty politics or settling scores. The future rests on a ticking nuclear time bomb that’s ready to explode in your face.
If you are looking for trouble, Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett deliver a straight shot of it. Call it payback. Call it retribution if you want. Only this one is not about getting even. Blowback is all that and so much more. This is the real deal from someone who is the real deal. Ten years ago Plame wasn't simply sitting around polishing her nails or working on her smile. She was out there in the cold with everything on the line.
Valerie Plame is the survivor they couldn't count out. Now she’s back, standing tall and laying it all out for the world to see. Today’s stakes aren't about the rich, petty politics or settling scores. The future rests on a ticking nuclear time bomb that’s ready to explode in your face.
March 19, 2014
Interesting take on the James Bond theme: Ms. Plame, a former spook, injects the realism of inter-departmental romance, office infighting, and bureaucratic jerks along with the run-for-your-life thrills. The story is very good, the writing is very good. I didn't give it 5 stars because the plot, while quite good, held no surprises. I'd recommend this as the most realistic spy-novel.
May 3, 2025
Innocuous, disposables kinda-thriller that would never have seen the light of day had it not been "co-authored" by VALERIE PLAME, (as the cover screams out in enormous, embossed silver type).
The plot starts off well enough with legitimate fears of Iran getting a nuclear weapon and the search for a secret facility in the Baluchestan desert, but that quickly becomes a total McGuffin as the real story quickly becomes a formulaic "Day of the Jackal"-type hunt for an international assassin, (which I have to believe isn't as common a job as this sort of fiction would lead us to believe). Plame provides an interesting mix of genuine Agency insights based on her time as a covert CIA case officer, but this is seriously diluted with just way too much James Bond bullshit — flying around the world on the Agency's jet, popping in and out of not only CIA headquarters but also MI5 (where she is actually photographed leaving by the bad guy so, y'know, goodbye "deep cover"), and having the most sophisticated COVCOM system the spy world has ever seen —real-time communications with HQS ("three minutes after she sent the cable she had a reply"), videoconference capability with various intel services around the world…all from her apartment in Cyprus on an unsecured laptop which she constantly leaves unattended, (so, y'know, goodbye "security"). She also spends an almost fetishistic amount of time barefoot; not just at home, but also at HQS (which reminded me of those gross photos of RFK walking barefoot down the aisle of an airplane) and then even during a high-speed, late night car chase through the rock-strewn Cypriot countryside…I mean, what would happen if she ended up in a fight (and she ends up in a LOT of fights), or — God forbid — has to abandon her car and run off into the night? Girl? Ya barefoot!!
Along the way, she makes a number of terrible decisions and commits an even greater number of firable offences: repeatedly lying (mainly about her terrible decisions) to her boss, frequent unreported foreign travel for secret rendezvous with her inside-officer lover, etc. But that's okay, because...SHE'S A REBEL! AND A LOOSE CANNON!! And ONLY SHE HAS INSIGHT INTO THE MIND OF THE ASSASSIN!!!
The book ends with an I-should-have-seen-it-coming cliffhanger…but maybe in Book Two she actually gets back to a real spy story? Well, afraid I'll never know, since this one was more than enough.
With one heavily redacted memoir, a movie deal, and two novels behind her (as well as a failed run for Congress and a recent scandal involving misuse of a university credit card*), one hopes that Plame has finally had her far-more-than-fifteen minutes of fame…or that at least fame has had it with Plame.
Oh, and since I'm already here, a final dump on the bestseller publishing industry in general: as with so many such books — and movies, for that matter (I'm looking at you, Pierce Brosnan Bond) — this title makes absolutely no sense, other than that it's a cool spy-sounding word. Also, I don't know which is worse — that it was the publishers' or Plame's own idea to name her character here "Vanessa Pierson" ("sexy blond spy with same initials, get it??") as a cheap gimmick to trick readers into thinking this is, like, a fictional telling of her own adventures. Because read Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House — it's not, (well, maybe the foot thing).
And finally...what's with the overblown "praise" on the back cover from the likes of James Patterson, David Baldacci, Douglas Preston and Lee Child, few if any of which actually read the book (or so I have to imagine)? It instantly made me coin the term "blurb whore" — until I actually Googled it and found out that's a real thing, kind of like the floating industry "directors" who make millions by sitting on each others' boards. Ugh; business.
__________________________________
* So yeah, according to Wikipedia — which God knows isn't infallible — "in December 2024 it was reported that Plame's husband was resigning his post as WNMU president in exchange for a severance package of nearly $2 million, as he and regents of the university were implicated in charges of wasteful spending. Plame was not a WNMU employee, but she was issued a university credit card, which she used to buy thousands of dollars of furniture and home and office accessories." You catch that? A $2 million severance package?? Looks like higher education "takes care of its own" just as much as the publishing industry — and politics, and industry in general — does. Ugh; life.
The plot starts off well enough with legitimate fears of Iran getting a nuclear weapon and the search for a secret facility in the Baluchestan desert, but that quickly becomes a total McGuffin as the real story quickly becomes a formulaic "Day of the Jackal"-type hunt for an international assassin, (which I have to believe isn't as common a job as this sort of fiction would lead us to believe). Plame provides an interesting mix of genuine Agency insights based on her time as a covert CIA case officer, but this is seriously diluted with just way too much James Bond bullshit — flying around the world on the Agency's jet, popping in and out of not only CIA headquarters but also MI5 (where she is actually photographed leaving by the bad guy so, y'know, goodbye "deep cover"), and having the most sophisticated COVCOM system the spy world has ever seen —real-time communications with HQS ("three minutes after she sent the cable she had a reply"), videoconference capability with various intel services around the world…all from her apartment in Cyprus on an unsecured laptop which she constantly leaves unattended, (so, y'know, goodbye "security"). She also spends an almost fetishistic amount of time barefoot; not just at home, but also at HQS (which reminded me of those gross photos of RFK walking barefoot down the aisle of an airplane) and then even during a high-speed, late night car chase through the rock-strewn Cypriot countryside…I mean, what would happen if she ended up in a fight (and she ends up in a LOT of fights), or — God forbid — has to abandon her car and run off into the night? Girl? Ya barefoot!!
Along the way, she makes a number of terrible decisions and commits an even greater number of firable offences: repeatedly lying (mainly about her terrible decisions) to her boss, frequent unreported foreign travel for secret rendezvous with her inside-officer lover, etc. But that's okay, because...SHE'S A REBEL! AND A LOOSE CANNON!! And ONLY SHE HAS INSIGHT INTO THE MIND OF THE ASSASSIN!!!
The book ends with an I-should-have-seen-it-coming cliffhanger…but maybe in Book Two she actually gets back to a real spy story? Well, afraid I'll never know, since this one was more than enough.
With one heavily redacted memoir, a movie deal, and two novels behind her (as well as a failed run for Congress and a recent scandal involving misuse of a university credit card*), one hopes that Plame has finally had her far-more-than-fifteen minutes of fame…or that at least fame has had it with Plame.
Oh, and since I'm already here, a final dump on the bestseller publishing industry in general: as with so many such books — and movies, for that matter (I'm looking at you, Pierce Brosnan Bond) — this title makes absolutely no sense, other than that it's a cool spy-sounding word. Also, I don't know which is worse — that it was the publishers' or Plame's own idea to name her character here "Vanessa Pierson" ("sexy blond spy with same initials, get it??") as a cheap gimmick to trick readers into thinking this is, like, a fictional telling of her own adventures. Because read Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House — it's not, (well, maybe the foot thing).
And finally...what's with the overblown "praise" on the back cover from the likes of James Patterson, David Baldacci, Douglas Preston and Lee Child, few if any of which actually read the book (or so I have to imagine)? It instantly made me coin the term "blurb whore" — until I actually Googled it and found out that's a real thing, kind of like the floating industry "directors" who make millions by sitting on each others' boards. Ugh; business.
__________________________________
* So yeah, according to Wikipedia — which God knows isn't infallible — "in December 2024 it was reported that Plame's husband was resigning his post as WNMU president in exchange for a severance package of nearly $2 million, as he and regents of the university were implicated in charges of wasteful spending. Plame was not a WNMU employee, but she was issued a university credit card, which she used to buy thousands of dollars of furniture and home and office accessories." You catch that? A $2 million severance package?? Looks like higher education "takes care of its own" just as much as the publishing industry — and politics, and industry in general — does. Ugh; life.
December 4, 2013
Novelty read. In the pantheon of former intelligence officers turned author, Plame with Lovett is just okay. Decidedly not in a league with Bob Baer, Stella Rimington, or rookie sensation, Jason Matthews. Certainly not even worthy of mention with the likes of veteran former spies cum literary greats like Charles McCarry or the transcendent Le Carre.
Blowback is fun at times, with lively pacing, and faux insights into the inner workings of CIA. It manages some authenticity with operational detailing and descriptions of tradecraft, but then squanders that authenticity with puzzling lapses in attention to detail like having a tactical operations strike team dropped into Iran use IEDs, when they certainly would have carried in whatever explosives they needed.
And while we are on the subject of attention to detail ... One pet peeve ... When you write that a character "hissed" a given phrase, such as, "'The Pavilion', Vanessa hissed." it describes making a sharp sibilant sound. Not even Sylvester the Cat could make "Pavilion" ssssound ssssiblilant. It just annoying and belies a broader tendency to lean on cliches of the genre.
For example, protagonist Vanessa Pierson (VP get it!?), of course, twists her ankle.... Really!? Does every female protagonist in a thriller have to twist an ankle in pursuit or escape? Is it also required to have a forbidden romance, and a tortured and lonely internal life? They authors managed to weave in an impressive number of true-to-genre hackneyed devices in just 300 pages.
But wait, there's more... It seems clear at the end that there will be at least one more Mad Libs spy thriller with Vanessa Pierson. Hopefully, for the sake of readers who liked Blowback, they will try a different template. This reviewer, however, has read enough.
Blowback is fun at times, with lively pacing, and faux insights into the inner workings of CIA. It manages some authenticity with operational detailing and descriptions of tradecraft, but then squanders that authenticity with puzzling lapses in attention to detail like having a tactical operations strike team dropped into Iran use IEDs, when they certainly would have carried in whatever explosives they needed.
And while we are on the subject of attention to detail ... One pet peeve ... When you write that a character "hissed" a given phrase, such as, "'The Pavilion', Vanessa hissed." it describes making a sharp sibilant sound. Not even Sylvester the Cat could make "Pavilion" ssssound ssssiblilant. It just annoying and belies a broader tendency to lean on cliches of the genre.
For example, protagonist Vanessa Pierson (VP get it!?), of course, twists her ankle.... Really!? Does every female protagonist in a thriller have to twist an ankle in pursuit or escape? Is it also required to have a forbidden romance, and a tortured and lonely internal life? They authors managed to weave in an impressive number of true-to-genre hackneyed devices in just 300 pages.
But wait, there's more... It seems clear at the end that there will be at least one more Mad Libs spy thriller with Vanessa Pierson. Hopefully, for the sake of readers who liked Blowback, they will try a different template. This reviewer, however, has read enough.
August 3, 2018
4.5/5 I read or skimmed a couple of the reviews left on this site upon my completion of this novel and understood perfectly why some chose a low rating for it. This is not going to be everyone's style. Personally, I loved the protocol: the constant go here, do that which contained a high level of realism due to one of the authors being a former agent. Such professions are fascinating to me, so I loved seeing one dramatized by a person who knows. Not everyone will, but I loved it.
June 21, 2019
A so-so spy thriller. While Plame uses very credible scenarios and knows spycraft quite well, the dialogue so very predictable and boring.
February 24, 2018
Edge-of-my-seat thrilling, read it almost in one sitting, could not put it down! The fact I am on my third viewing of the entire decade or so of the TV episodes that air in the UK under the name, "MI5," helped with my enjoyment of this book. In the U.S., "MI5" aired one season I think I read somewhere, on BBC or maybe PBS, under the name "Spooks," but otherwise it has to be streamed or watched on DVD. A movie with the same name, a sequel to the TV series, was made after the series ended. And, like "Blowback," all are far more relevant in the age of 'Trump and The Russians' than they were when initially aired and published, respectively. Both provide extremely useful insights into our 'real world' today, via the delivery system known as fiction. I now want to read Plame's two non-fiction books, as I followed her story carefully when she was outed, via the mainstream, respectable press. And I have purchased "Burned," will begin it today while I eagerly await her next book! As a native New Mexican, I am honored the authors live in my beloved Santa Fe.
April 6, 2014
As you may recall, Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative that was outed by Robert Novak with the assistance of the Bush administration. That said, her tale of CIA intrigue, operations and dedication to protecting this country is made all the more real because of her background. Her descriptions of CIA operations, trade craft, and jargon we must assume are spot on. This story which deals with the main character, Vanessa Pierson (VP initials hmmm?) who is on a mission to capture or kill an international arms dealer named Bhoot who is working to assist Iran in developing a weapons grade nuclear device. Bhoot works with a highly paid assassin named Pauk who kills two of Vanessa's assets. The suspense in this story is palpable and you can almost feel the exhaustion, pain and desperation that Vanessa experiences in places such as Nicosia, London, Cairo, etc.
Plame is ably assisted in this book by Sarah Lovett who has a five suspense novels to her credit.
I only have two other words for this book...READ IT!
Plame is ably assisted in this book by Sarah Lovett who has a five suspense novels to her credit.
I only have two other words for this book...READ IT!
January 3, 2016
The first 10 pages almost caused me to stop reading it. The prose just felt...amateurish. But I gave it another shot, and pretty soon the plot kicked in, so I kept going. By the last half of the book I was genuinely pulled in, and read it avidly.
I found the similarity of the protagonist to the author (her looks, name, circumstances, job, etc) to be distracting, as every compliment for the main character takes on a tone of self-congratulation, vs just the creation of a skillful/smart/beautiful/driven character. Not only is it narcissistic, it becomes a constant reminder that it's "historical fiction", interposing questions of "would that really happen?" into an otherwise engrossing fictional story.
But hopefully future books will shed some of that dynamic, and keep up the final level of quality, to give the world an interesting woman spy character, and a peek into the real world of international espionage.
I found the similarity of the protagonist to the author (her looks, name, circumstances, job, etc) to be distracting, as every compliment for the main character takes on a tone of self-congratulation, vs just the creation of a skillful/smart/beautiful/driven character. Not only is it narcissistic, it becomes a constant reminder that it's "historical fiction", interposing questions of "would that really happen?" into an otherwise engrossing fictional story.
But hopefully future books will shed some of that dynamic, and keep up the final level of quality, to give the world an interesting woman spy character, and a peek into the real world of international espionage.
November 2, 2013
Just finished Blowback by Valerie Plame and I must say, I really, really liked this book. It was a very good thriller with current political subject matter and a well constructed plot. Great characters that one can identify with.
Oh, I must say the ending just whets your appetite for another in the series. I definitely recommend this book and would read more in the series.
Oh, I must say the ending just whets your appetite for another in the series. I definitely recommend this book and would read more in the series.
May 7, 2014
It's more Covert Affairs than John LeCarre, but it's enjoyable. If the real CIA is as exhausted as the people in this novel are, we're in trouble.
November 16, 2023
As a nonfiction author I read mostly non-fiction, but I am also keenly aware that not all expert-authors are “allowed” to write nonfiction, for example – Valerie Plame, who was the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, when her identity as a CIA-agent was leaked.
Hence, I was particularly thrilled to find out that Mrs. Plame authored a spy-novel series. I figured the novel might teach me something about the inner workings of the CIA.
Sadly, Plame’s novel “Blowback” was the most disappointing book I read in all of 2023. To be sure, the book was co-authored by Sarah Lovett, but I believe I am not alone with my assumption that Mrs. Lovett did most of the writing and Mrs. Plame “thought up” the spy story.
The book starts out well – in my hometown Vienna, which could have could have been a great location/element of the story because (a) during the Cold War, Vienna was the “spy capital of the world” and (b) since Vienna hosts one of the three UN-headquarters, the author could have used the latter fact to explain that Vanessa’s “contact” Arash was in Vienna in connection with some UN-mission, UN conference, or UN event. Which could have become an interesting element of the plot.
Alas, the author chose neither one of these easy-at-hand options and also does not explain why things are happening where they are happening (Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen, and “randomly pick cities from a travel catalogue”… ). Instead, Vienna becomes one of the many cities which are part of this CIA-jet setting adventure, without logic, rhyme, or reason.
To sum it up – I couldn’t get through more than 20 percent of the book. The protagonist of the story, young, female CIA-officer Vanessa Pierson, seems to behave like a college student. For example: When waiting for her contact at Vienna’s amusement park Prater, she kills time by shooting at a shooting gallery, then hands her prize, a plush panda, to a screaming kid. (Hint: hitting all the targets and winning the biggest prize is one way to give away that one is an expert shooter.)
Vanessa also doesn’t obey orders, “goes in” when she is supposed to “abort the mission," has affairs plus rather friendly feelings towards other agents, contacts, and assets involved in the mission, and mostly seems to act on emotions. I certainly hope that this book is not “based on true stories.” Because people – valuable informants – get killed.
Of course, it is to be expected that, in a spy novel, people get killed. Still, somehow, most of us would like to believe that the nation’s security lies in competent hands and not in the hands of people, who guided by emotions, fly around the world, and set things in motion they can’t really control.
What a disappointment!
Hence, I was particularly thrilled to find out that Mrs. Plame authored a spy-novel series. I figured the novel might teach me something about the inner workings of the CIA.
Sadly, Plame’s novel “Blowback” was the most disappointing book I read in all of 2023. To be sure, the book was co-authored by Sarah Lovett, but I believe I am not alone with my assumption that Mrs. Lovett did most of the writing and Mrs. Plame “thought up” the spy story.
The book starts out well – in my hometown Vienna, which could have could have been a great location/element of the story because (a) during the Cold War, Vienna was the “spy capital of the world” and (b) since Vienna hosts one of the three UN-headquarters, the author could have used the latter fact to explain that Vanessa’s “contact” Arash was in Vienna in connection with some UN-mission, UN conference, or UN event. Which could have become an interesting element of the plot.
Alas, the author chose neither one of these easy-at-hand options and also does not explain why things are happening where they are happening (Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen, and “randomly pick cities from a travel catalogue”… ). Instead, Vienna becomes one of the many cities which are part of this CIA-jet setting adventure, without logic, rhyme, or reason.
To sum it up – I couldn’t get through more than 20 percent of the book. The protagonist of the story, young, female CIA-officer Vanessa Pierson, seems to behave like a college student. For example: When waiting for her contact at Vienna’s amusement park Prater, she kills time by shooting at a shooting gallery, then hands her prize, a plush panda, to a screaming kid. (Hint: hitting all the targets and winning the biggest prize is one way to give away that one is an expert shooter.)
Vanessa also doesn’t obey orders, “goes in” when she is supposed to “abort the mission," has affairs plus rather friendly feelings towards other agents, contacts, and assets involved in the mission, and mostly seems to act on emotions. I certainly hope that this book is not “based on true stories.” Because people – valuable informants – get killed.
Of course, it is to be expected that, in a spy novel, people get killed. Still, somehow, most of us would like to believe that the nation’s security lies in competent hands and not in the hands of people, who guided by emotions, fly around the world, and set things in motion they can’t really control.
What a disappointment!
October 5, 2017
The co-author, Valerie Plame, is the ex-CIA spy whose undercover identity was reportedly exposed by high-level Bush Administration officials in 2003 in what was suspected to be in retaliation for her husband's, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, repudiation of President George W. Bush's claim that Iraq had purchased and imported uranium from South Africa. The resulting investigation, "Plamegate"/"The Plane affair", became a political scandal for the Bush Administration.
Blowback is a term used by the CIA to describe unintended consequences, affecting the aggressor, which occur during the course of a covert operation. Counter attacks that are unforeseen. The reader of this debut novel soon understands how this title works so well. CIA operative, Vanessa Pierson, is on the hunt for a terrorist and international arms dealer who is only known as Bhoot. She takes risks, breaks rules, makes mistakes that jeopardize others lives, and gets emotionally involved with another agent.....a James Bond/Charlie's Angel/Mission Impossible character combination. The first part of the novel kept me engaged but it was the last half that really had my attention. A lot of things are happening at once and all the loose ends are wrapped up neatly.
Overall, I liked the book. It's clear that there will be another in the series and I would be interested in reading it.
Blowback is a term used by the CIA to describe unintended consequences, affecting the aggressor, which occur during the course of a covert operation. Counter attacks that are unforeseen. The reader of this debut novel soon understands how this title works so well. CIA operative, Vanessa Pierson, is on the hunt for a terrorist and international arms dealer who is only known as Bhoot. She takes risks, breaks rules, makes mistakes that jeopardize others lives, and gets emotionally involved with another agent.....a James Bond/Charlie's Angel/Mission Impossible character combination. The first part of the novel kept me engaged but it was the last half that really had my attention. A lot of things are happening at once and all the loose ends are wrapped up neatly.
Overall, I liked the book. It's clear that there will be another in the series and I would be interested in reading it.
June 29, 2025
I got this book since it was partly written by Valarie Plame - the ex CIA officer who was outed by a WA Post writer. I figured after having been in the CIA the book would be very interesting. It clearly showed how hard it would be to be a CIA officer in this day and age. This book had to also, coincidentally, have to do with Iran and their nuclear capability. so many twists and turns. Such a dangerous life of a CIA agent. I wonder how any of them ever manage to get married and settle down.
It's a very quick read (2 days) with lots of twists and turns. A good summer time read .
It's a very quick read (2 days) with lots of twists and turns. A good summer time read .
August 2, 2019
I picked up this book because I knew the story of Valerie Plame and how the White House screwed her and her operatives. With that as the background, I expected this to be a really great spy novel. But I found it wasn't for me. I thought the characters were weak (I didn't root for them as I would for Mitch Rapp) and the story line wasn't strong.
Hats off to everything Valerie did for the country but I won't be reading the next book.
Hats off to everything Valerie did for the country but I won't be reading the next book.
February 19, 2022
Fair thriller authored by a former CIA agent. The author's covert identity was blown by a politician in the last decade or two in a political kerfuffle. She weaves a fairly good spy thriller but then gets to the last several pages and decides to just throw a different ending in it. And then she leaves part of the story/plot unfinished.... trying to entice you to read the next book she writes. Yuck.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 15, 2020I didn’t rate this book because I only read it because it was co-written by Valerie Plame, the CIA agent who had been outed by the Bush administration. Otherwise, I would not have been drawn to it being a story of espionage, not my cup of tea. I don’t think I’m qualified to rate such a book, but I did finish it and except for all the acronyms, I thought it flowed rather well.
August 26, 2025
it has a smaller cast of characters and an easy to follow plot, which is refreshing for a spy novel. Unfortunately the story doesn't amount to anything terribly exciting, and there's not much of a hook to build a series around. Just a stock standard spy story that I'll probably forget existed in a week.
April 14, 2018
I liked it. Moved right along and was entertaining.
Valerie Plame's career at the CIA was ended when Scooter Libby outed her in a stupid political
gambit. Sorry to see Trump pardoned that jerk, Libby.
Anyway I'll look for more of these by Plame and Pierson. Nicely done.
Valerie Plame's career at the CIA was ended when Scooter Libby outed her in a stupid political
gambit. Sorry to see Trump pardoned that jerk, Libby.
Anyway I'll look for more of these by Plame and Pierson. Nicely done.
February 10, 2022
Fast-paced thiller set within the world of the CIA and terrorism. Enjoyable read and a good first novel from a former CIA agent. I won an advanced reading copy of this novel from the publisher as part of the Goodreads giveaways program.
November 8, 2017
Page turner until the end and then it just ended with all sorts of unresolved elements. Incredibly unsatisfying.
April 26, 2019
Enjoyed this book a lot; hard to put down.
June 26, 2019
Pretty good spy story but felt like the ending was rushed.
August 4, 2019
Excellent
I couldn't put it down until I finished. Held my attention from beginning to end. Not a notion moment in the book.
I couldn't put it down until I finished. Held my attention from beginning to end. Not a notion moment in the book.
November 2, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this book. The high-action scenes are really well-written, especially the car chase scene.
February 20, 2020
Fun to read, but a couple weeks later I can't remember a thing about it.
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