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A Firing Offense
“A dynamic thriller with the coolest, smartest journalist that fiction ever produced.”—Ben Bradlee, Washington Post
When rising-star reporter Eric Truell accepts information from a maverick CIA agent, he becomes enmeshed in an international trade war in which even his own newspaper may be an unsuspecting participant. When Eric's sources tell him there is a spy inside the newsroom, he is tempted to cross a dangerous professional line and risk his career—possibly even his life—to find the truth.479 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
David Ignatius
33 books721 followersDavid Ignatius, a prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, has been covering the Middle East and the CIA for more than twenty-five years. His novels include Agents of Innocence, Body of Lies, and The Increment, now in development for a major motion picture by Jerry Bruckheimer. He lives in Washington, DC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
March 4, 2018
Just a superlative read ... many plot turns ... well developed characters ... and the issues related to a free press are certainly relevant today in the context of Trump's fake world of fake news
June 15, 2018
Had me spellbound! I'm pretty sure I was late to several events just so I could read one more chapter before I left. I have no idea why this is my first book by Ignatius, but I know it won't be my last.
February 27, 2012
Since I've now read all of Lee Child's Reacher novels, I've had to find some other interesting light fiction to read. A recent interest in spies and espionage led me to this novel, my introduction to David Ignatius' writing, and I was not disappointed. Ignatius is a long-time political reporter and commentator for the Washington Post, so he comes by his espionage fiction-writing through honest experience. [I bring this up because I think it's essential for a genre writer to have some first-hand experience. It really shows when they don't.] In the case of "A Firing Offense," the narrator is Eric Truell [love that play on the word true], a reporter for the fictional New York Mirror, who gets caught in political intrigue up to his neck - in fact way over his head. It's fun to see the main character not be smarter and faster on the draw than other characters, which gives this novel a real sense of verisimilitude. The story was filled with all kinds of realistic twists, turns, political backstabbing, and spy stuff like espionage agents from France, hotel rooms bugged by the Chinese, and CIA counter-espionage agents who rival the Marx Brothers for ineptitude. This is Ignatius's third novel of eight; "Body of Lies" was made into a movie a few years ago. He seems to be overlooked, but if you like the espionage and spy genre, I recommend you seek him out.
April 18, 2018
In the US in the 1990s, a professional journalist working other jobs, especially those with government connections, was grounds for dismissal. Interaction between journalists and the entities they are covering is the major thread of A FIRING OFFENSE. In this book, it has gone so far that a respected journalist became a henchman for a foreign government, planting stories beneficial to that country into the newspaper.
There are three primary threads in this story: Corruption of governments and of journalists by foreign governments, competition between France and the US to secure a major telecommunications contract with China, and the diminishment of print newspapers.
David Ignatius’s excellent book, A FIRING OFFENSE, was published in 1997. It opens in 1996 and Eric Truell is based in Paris as the correspondent for The New York Mirror, a highly-rated national newspaper. He is currently in Washington DC to attend and speak at the funeral of the paper’s top foreign correspondent.
The scene quickly changes to 1994 Paris where Truell is trying to find a story. He laments: “Boredom is ordinarily the fuel of journalism; it is the dry powder that, under the right circumstances, ignites into the flame of curiosity that connects a reporter with his story. We need that burst of energy, because despite what people think, journalism is often quite dull… But too much boredom can spark too much heat – creating a passion to connect with the story to that is consuming, unbounded, uncontrollable.”
He doesn’t have long to wait. He is contacted by a scientist who has discovered a way to regenerate brain cells. Soon thereafter, he hears about an on-going hostage situation in one of Paris’s finest restaurants and decides that he wants to be there to get a good story. Needless to say, the French authorities are not cooperative but he is able to speak to some of the people inside. Later he is contacted by Rupert Cohen, a very strange man who works in a US Intelligence agency but is disgusted with the work and claims the department is falling apart.
The next day he learns that the entire hostage incident was staged by a group of African politicians and middlemen who thought they were being shortchanged and wanted more money. It was a way for the government to pay money to have the people go away while picking up some of it for themselves and others involved in the plot. The African network was operated by a clever old gentleman, one of France's most senior politicians. What he gathered from Africa was the black fund from which people could draw when they need cash.
French bribery of Chinese officials developing new weapons to get the contract was the great truth of the 1990s: The world is run by organized criminals… [foreigners] slipped governments into the hands of private organizations in New York, private currency traders have more power over the dollar than the Federal Reserve, the Russian Mafia has more power than the Army. Mexican druglords have more power than the president. In Japan, the politicians are just a front; the real powers held by corporations and the mob.
Truell gets sucked into this world as he tries to research his stories and some of his sources try to recruit him.
Like many print newspapers, The New York Mirror is facing major financial problems. Partly because of the internet, fewer people were reading it and advertising revenue had decreased dramatically. Staff members were being let go, advertisers influenced what was printed and special sections were devoted to them. Many of the papers that survived turned to electronic versions either entirely or as supplements. That opened the way for unscrupulous reporters to manipulate the stock market.
Interesting observation:
We're all shaped and misshaped by the experiences of our childhoods. Mine was happy enough and uncomplicated, which was itself a kind of burden – the burden of lightness. People with emotional scars know they have to be wary; they learn to ration their passions; they know what will hurt them. Nothing in my childhood taught me those lessons.
This book was written during the Clinton administration. In it, Ignatius presents a discussion about the role of the First Lady in lobbying for social legislation. The politically-connected men kept interrupting one another to talk about the political costs and benefits for the president. The First Lady, trying to be part of the group, doesn’t fit the traditional pattern:
You guys don't get it, this is the baseball game. The First Lady doesn't think that way. She doesn't worry about her husband's reelection, any more that you cares whether her husband think she looks cute. This is a woman with larger ambitions. She wants to be great that's why she's causing everyone problems.
This attitude and situation were very prominent in the 2016 election. While it describes Hillary Clinton, probably the most qualified candidate in decades, it still hindered her campaign. On the other side, her lack of experience and questionable actions did not stop Ivanka Trump from being involved in high level talks.
A FIRING OFFENSE discusses whether or not to report about the mental health of a presidential candidate during the primary season. He had experienced a nervous breakdown previously and was taking a strong anti-depressant. Around that time the book was written, a vice-presidential candidate facing a similar situation was dropped from the ticket when the story hit the media. The media ignored Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s as well as the sexual exploits of several Presidents and Congressional representatives. Today, many voters and elected officials don’t really care about such things.
The question Bazy had put to me was not really a choice. My ambitions laid a different direction from what he proposed. If I see more clearly what lay ahead, I made a different choice, but I don't think so. Even the most grievous center, facing excommunication, doesn't wish for the certainty of damnation.
Former columnists for many years have been helpful to the CIA especially for recovery operations. The wisest course would be for them to meet privately with the Director of CIA and the President and demand that the rules be changed so that a journalist would never again be subject to the intolerable risks and temptations that destroyed Eric Truell.
Arthur took money from French intelligence. Probably add up to millions of dollars over the years.… He worked for gangsters who leaned on him to cook stories which you ran.
A FIRING OFFENSE is very well-written and organized. It raises many issues that are still pertinent. I found an incongruity: At one point Truell said that “on the seat next to me was a stack of scientific papers my new aide had gathered, summarizing, the latest developments in neurobiology. 48 hours before, I had known absolutely nothing about these subjects.” Two paragraphs later we learn “my father is a professor of medicine at the University of California at Davis.” It’s hard to believe Truell didn’t know quite a bit about medicine while he was growing up.
There are three primary threads in this story: Corruption of governments and of journalists by foreign governments, competition between France and the US to secure a major telecommunications contract with China, and the diminishment of print newspapers.
David Ignatius’s excellent book, A FIRING OFFENSE, was published in 1997. It opens in 1996 and Eric Truell is based in Paris as the correspondent for The New York Mirror, a highly-rated national newspaper. He is currently in Washington DC to attend and speak at the funeral of the paper’s top foreign correspondent.
The scene quickly changes to 1994 Paris where Truell is trying to find a story. He laments: “Boredom is ordinarily the fuel of journalism; it is the dry powder that, under the right circumstances, ignites into the flame of curiosity that connects a reporter with his story. We need that burst of energy, because despite what people think, journalism is often quite dull… But too much boredom can spark too much heat – creating a passion to connect with the story to that is consuming, unbounded, uncontrollable.”
He doesn’t have long to wait. He is contacted by a scientist who has discovered a way to regenerate brain cells. Soon thereafter, he hears about an on-going hostage situation in one of Paris’s finest restaurants and decides that he wants to be there to get a good story. Needless to say, the French authorities are not cooperative but he is able to speak to some of the people inside. Later he is contacted by Rupert Cohen, a very strange man who works in a US Intelligence agency but is disgusted with the work and claims the department is falling apart.
The next day he learns that the entire hostage incident was staged by a group of African politicians and middlemen who thought they were being shortchanged and wanted more money. It was a way for the government to pay money to have the people go away while picking up some of it for themselves and others involved in the plot. The African network was operated by a clever old gentleman, one of France's most senior politicians. What he gathered from Africa was the black fund from which people could draw when they need cash.
French bribery of Chinese officials developing new weapons to get the contract was the great truth of the 1990s: The world is run by organized criminals… [foreigners] slipped governments into the hands of private organizations in New York, private currency traders have more power over the dollar than the Federal Reserve, the Russian Mafia has more power than the Army. Mexican druglords have more power than the president. In Japan, the politicians are just a front; the real powers held by corporations and the mob.
Truell gets sucked into this world as he tries to research his stories and some of his sources try to recruit him.
Like many print newspapers, The New York Mirror is facing major financial problems. Partly because of the internet, fewer people were reading it and advertising revenue had decreased dramatically. Staff members were being let go, advertisers influenced what was printed and special sections were devoted to them. Many of the papers that survived turned to electronic versions either entirely or as supplements. That opened the way for unscrupulous reporters to manipulate the stock market.
Interesting observation:
We're all shaped and misshaped by the experiences of our childhoods. Mine was happy enough and uncomplicated, which was itself a kind of burden – the burden of lightness. People with emotional scars know they have to be wary; they learn to ration their passions; they know what will hurt them. Nothing in my childhood taught me those lessons.
This book was written during the Clinton administration. In it, Ignatius presents a discussion about the role of the First Lady in lobbying for social legislation. The politically-connected men kept interrupting one another to talk about the political costs and benefits for the president. The First Lady, trying to be part of the group, doesn’t fit the traditional pattern:
You guys don't get it, this is the baseball game. The First Lady doesn't think that way. She doesn't worry about her husband's reelection, any more that you cares whether her husband think she looks cute. This is a woman with larger ambitions. She wants to be great that's why she's causing everyone problems.
This attitude and situation were very prominent in the 2016 election. While it describes Hillary Clinton, probably the most qualified candidate in decades, it still hindered her campaign. On the other side, her lack of experience and questionable actions did not stop Ivanka Trump from being involved in high level talks.
A FIRING OFFENSE discusses whether or not to report about the mental health of a presidential candidate during the primary season. He had experienced a nervous breakdown previously and was taking a strong anti-depressant. Around that time the book was written, a vice-presidential candidate facing a similar situation was dropped from the ticket when the story hit the media. The media ignored Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s as well as the sexual exploits of several Presidents and Congressional representatives. Today, many voters and elected officials don’t really care about such things.
The question Bazy had put to me was not really a choice. My ambitions laid a different direction from what he proposed. If I see more clearly what lay ahead, I made a different choice, but I don't think so. Even the most grievous center, facing excommunication, doesn't wish for the certainty of damnation.
Former columnists for many years have been helpful to the CIA especially for recovery operations. The wisest course would be for them to meet privately with the Director of CIA and the President and demand that the rules be changed so that a journalist would never again be subject to the intolerable risks and temptations that destroyed Eric Truell.
Arthur took money from French intelligence. Probably add up to millions of dollars over the years.… He worked for gangsters who leaned on him to cook stories which you ran.
A FIRING OFFENSE is very well-written and organized. It raises many issues that are still pertinent. I found an incongruity: At one point Truell said that “on the seat next to me was a stack of scientific papers my new aide had gathered, summarizing, the latest developments in neurobiology. 48 hours before, I had known absolutely nothing about these subjects.” Two paragraphs later we learn “my father is a professor of medicine at the University of California at Davis.” It’s hard to believe Truell didn’t know quite a bit about medicine while he was growing up.
November 19, 2019
It’s not unusual for journalists to turn to writing mysteries and thrillers. After all, some of the best known names in the business began their careers in journalism, including John Sandford, Michael Connelly, and Daniel Silva. However, nothing I’ve read so far comes close to the nitty-gritty detail about the practice of journalism that Washington Post editor and columnist David Ignatius builds into in his suspenseful 1997 spy story, A Firing Offense.
A Firing Offense is a suspenseful spy story that John le Carré or Graham Greene might otherwise have written. But it’s more than that. Ignatius gives us a picture of the world in which he works and the job he does.
Reflections on journalism and espionage
Ignatius’s protagonist (his alter ego?), Eric Truell, reflects deeply on the differences between espionage and journalism. After all, he muses, “when you boiled the externalities away, we had done much the same work. We had both been in the business of gathering information—eliciting it, trading for it, teasing it out of reluctant subjects. [A CIA officer] called his informants ‘agents,’ and paid them money. I called them ‘sources,’ and gave them other kinds of rewards.” And Truell’s entanglement with the CIA and French intelligence gives him ample opportunity to ponder such questions.
A suspenseful spy story that involves the CIA and French intelligence
A Firing Offense opens in 1996 at the funeral of Arthur Bowman, the chief diplomatic correspondent for a major newspaper called the New York Mirror. Bowman is widely regarded as one of the country’s finest journalists. Speakers at the funeral make that clear. Yet Eric Truell knows there’s more to be known about Arthur Bowman, and that’s the tale he tells in the pages ahead.
Is a journalist being used in a covert U.S. government campaign?
The story resumes two years earlier in Paris, where thirty-five-year-old Truell is stationed as the Mirror’s Paris Bureau Chief. Acting on impulse, Truell rushes to the scene of a hostage crisis and finds a way into the restaurant where terrorists are holding fifteen diners and staff. His exclusive reporting leads him into a far darker story about French government corruption, a story that ultimately wins him a George Polk Award. And that in turn brings him into the orbit of Arthur Bowman, a legendary figure Truell had idolized. At the same time, the experience in Paris leaves him wondering whether he had unknowingly “been used in a covert campaign by the U.S. government, deliberately plotted in Washington, to change French politics.”
Who is really in charge in France?
In fact, Truell’s contact with the CIA had been more than casual. He had become involved with an officer in the CIA station named Tom Rubino. And it was Rubino who raised questions in his mind about what exactly his prize-winning story had uncovered. “Look, Eric,” he says, “the great truth of the 1990s is that the world is run by organized criminals. . . Power has slipped from governments into the hands of private organizations. In New York, private currency traders have more power over the dollar than the Federal Reserve. In Russia, the mafiya has more power than the army. In Mexico, the drug lords have more power than the president. In Japan, the politicians are just a front; the real power is held by the corporations and the yakuza.” All of which makes Truell wonder who’s really in charge in France. He will gain some insight into the question as he tells more about Arthur Bowman.
The deplorable state of the CIA in the 1990s
Back home in a coveted new assignment in the Washington Bureau, Truell falls into a closer relationship with a disgruntled CIA officer named Rupert Cohen. Cohen’s view of the Agency is scathing. And Truell soon comes to understand just how dysfunctional the CIA has become. “These guys had been on a twenty-year losing streak,” he reflects. “They were so mired in failure that a whole generation of them had done nothing but spin their wheels. They were collapsing of their own weight, in Washington and around the world. Most of what they did nowadays was make-believe. They pretended to recruit people, wrote phony cables dressing up lunchroom gossip as secret intelligence. They were losers. They couldn’t even protect themselves of their agents.” So, Truell understands when at length he agrees to take on a mission for the Agency, that he’s likely to be on his own.
“A newspaper is like a church”
However, despite his distrust of the CIA and qualms about the newspaper he serves, Truell remains proud of his work as a journalist. “A newspaper is like a church,” he thinks. “It is built by ordinary sinners, people who in their individual lives are often petty and corrupt, but who collectively create an institution that transcends themselves. A newspaper in that way achieves a kind of divinity. It embodies the quest of its reporters and editors for an absolute—the truth. What is holy about a newspaper is the struggle of these imperfect human beings to connect with something perfect.” Which surely must reflect Ignatius’s own convictions about his career. And he has found an elegant way to share these beliefs in a suspenseful spy story.
A Firing Offense is a suspenseful spy story that John le Carré or Graham Greene might otherwise have written. But it’s more than that. Ignatius gives us a picture of the world in which he works and the job he does.
Reflections on journalism and espionage
Ignatius’s protagonist (his alter ego?), Eric Truell, reflects deeply on the differences between espionage and journalism. After all, he muses, “when you boiled the externalities away, we had done much the same work. We had both been in the business of gathering information—eliciting it, trading for it, teasing it out of reluctant subjects. [A CIA officer] called his informants ‘agents,’ and paid them money. I called them ‘sources,’ and gave them other kinds of rewards.” And Truell’s entanglement with the CIA and French intelligence gives him ample opportunity to ponder such questions.
A suspenseful spy story that involves the CIA and French intelligence
A Firing Offense opens in 1996 at the funeral of Arthur Bowman, the chief diplomatic correspondent for a major newspaper called the New York Mirror. Bowman is widely regarded as one of the country’s finest journalists. Speakers at the funeral make that clear. Yet Eric Truell knows there’s more to be known about Arthur Bowman, and that’s the tale he tells in the pages ahead.
Is a journalist being used in a covert U.S. government campaign?
The story resumes two years earlier in Paris, where thirty-five-year-old Truell is stationed as the Mirror’s Paris Bureau Chief. Acting on impulse, Truell rushes to the scene of a hostage crisis and finds a way into the restaurant where terrorists are holding fifteen diners and staff. His exclusive reporting leads him into a far darker story about French government corruption, a story that ultimately wins him a George Polk Award. And that in turn brings him into the orbit of Arthur Bowman, a legendary figure Truell had idolized. At the same time, the experience in Paris leaves him wondering whether he had unknowingly “been used in a covert campaign by the U.S. government, deliberately plotted in Washington, to change French politics.”
Who is really in charge in France?
In fact, Truell’s contact with the CIA had been more than casual. He had become involved with an officer in the CIA station named Tom Rubino. And it was Rubino who raised questions in his mind about what exactly his prize-winning story had uncovered. “Look, Eric,” he says, “the great truth of the 1990s is that the world is run by organized criminals. . . Power has slipped from governments into the hands of private organizations. In New York, private currency traders have more power over the dollar than the Federal Reserve. In Russia, the mafiya has more power than the army. In Mexico, the drug lords have more power than the president. In Japan, the politicians are just a front; the real power is held by the corporations and the yakuza.” All of which makes Truell wonder who’s really in charge in France. He will gain some insight into the question as he tells more about Arthur Bowman.
The deplorable state of the CIA in the 1990s
Back home in a coveted new assignment in the Washington Bureau, Truell falls into a closer relationship with a disgruntled CIA officer named Rupert Cohen. Cohen’s view of the Agency is scathing. And Truell soon comes to understand just how dysfunctional the CIA has become. “These guys had been on a twenty-year losing streak,” he reflects. “They were so mired in failure that a whole generation of them had done nothing but spin their wheels. They were collapsing of their own weight, in Washington and around the world. Most of what they did nowadays was make-believe. They pretended to recruit people, wrote phony cables dressing up lunchroom gossip as secret intelligence. They were losers. They couldn’t even protect themselves of their agents.” So, Truell understands when at length he agrees to take on a mission for the Agency, that he’s likely to be on his own.
“A newspaper is like a church”
However, despite his distrust of the CIA and qualms about the newspaper he serves, Truell remains proud of his work as a journalist. “A newspaper is like a church,” he thinks. “It is built by ordinary sinners, people who in their individual lives are often petty and corrupt, but who collectively create an institution that transcends themselves. A newspaper in that way achieves a kind of divinity. It embodies the quest of its reporters and editors for an absolute—the truth. What is holy about a newspaper is the struggle of these imperfect human beings to connect with something perfect.” Which surely must reflect Ignatius’s own convictions about his career. And he has found an elegant way to share these beliefs in a suspenseful spy story.
January 27, 2012
I selected this book beceause the author has an impressive resume and I like thrillers. At first I was a little disappointed. It started somewhat slow and it took a little while for me to get very involved in it. That said, about two-thirds of the way through I realized I was hooked. The author immerses the reader in a world of espionage and journalism that seems quite real with lots of interesting details. Some of the contextual and technological references are a bit dated since the story was first published in 1998 but I did not find it overly stale. The characters are well developed making the plot seem more plausible how a non-spy gets caught up in some complicated esponiage. I also appreciate that the ending seemed real and was not an obvious platform setting up a series for the protagonist. I will read more Ignatius.
August 2, 2017
The most authentic novel yet about newspaper journalism
I've been a reporter off and on my whole life, but my newspaper experience is minimal. What I know is from having friends in the business who earnestly do their best, mainly in smaller papers.
The collapse of print journalism has hastened since Ignatius wrote this book, so it has the sense of having been written by a visionary. It is very real. But I bought this in need of a fresh read in the high-end spy genre. And what I got was a wonderful two-fer. The intelligence community stuff is first rate, and the issues the protagonist must wrestle are, in a macrocosm, issues every weekly rag writer must handle, even If it's just the local cops. I simply love this book and have actively recommended it to friends in the biz. I also recommend it to you, the reader who wants a great spy tale.
I've been a reporter off and on my whole life, but my newspaper experience is minimal. What I know is from having friends in the business who earnestly do their best, mainly in smaller papers.
The collapse of print journalism has hastened since Ignatius wrote this book, so it has the sense of having been written by a visionary. It is very real. But I bought this in need of a fresh read in the high-end spy genre. And what I got was a wonderful two-fer. The intelligence community stuff is first rate, and the issues the protagonist must wrestle are, in a macrocosm, issues every weekly rag writer must handle, even If it's just the local cops. I simply love this book and have actively recommended it to friends in the biz. I also recommend it to you, the reader who wants a great spy tale.
January 19, 2014
A day before my finishing of this book, the wife of a prominent political figure in India was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi. There were a few days of controversy before this death wherein allegations and counter allegations between the husband and the wife made headlines in the news. Be that as it may, the death of this lady sent the media into a frenzy. I do not think even the police would have completed their primary evaluations of the case and yet the news channels seem to have arrived at conclusions all by themselves. The way we behave, react and think have been altered beyond recognition by the hold that popular news media has over us. A good twenty years ago, India had only one television channel and a few newspapers but the story now is an entirely different one. It was entirely coincidental that I was reading this novel when the flood of 'flash news' began screaming out loud across the channels. Without giving the man himself a breathing space to mourn his departed wife, the fourth estate began thundering its verdicts to the mere mortals of India.The summary of this novel bears similarities to this situation for it tells of the extent to which a journalist will go for a good story, the boundaries he will jump over, the relationships he is willing to break and also the dangers that he is willing to invite.
The timeline is the mid 90's, wherein news papers were beginning that steady decline into mediocrity being replaced slowly by electronic news. The story centres around Eric Truell who is a blue eyed wonder boy of a reporter for the respectable New York Mirror. Chance encounters and that unbridled hunger for a story brings him close to the CIA and a loose cannon of an operative who leaks the most juiciest of stories to him. Riding on the wings of these, Eric becomes a super star overnight which destroys lives and careers of others in the process and also wins him powerful enemies. The initial celebrity clamour dies down to be replaced with self doubt, a desire to be morally right and later with abject terror at the power of his enemies. What he also realises with time is that you don't go to bed with the CIA with the agency also not wanting a few favours from you. The action moves from Paris, Washington, Beijing and to Montreal and the feeling of fear at the reach of the antagonists mounts with the chapters.
When you read a book by someone who knows what he/she is writing about, it can make a world of a difference to your enjoyment level. In case of this book, David Ignatius knows what he is writing about for he himself was a journalist and a foreign correspondent at varied times in his career. The plot is fast paced and there aren't any gun trotting intelligence operatives in here. there are no fast paced car chases, gun battles or steamy sex scenes. In its place is the monster of corporate corruption and human fallibility in the face of the temptation of money and power. The protagonist Eric was a smooth operator and one who was unapologetic about his mistakes which cost many a person dearly. Being told from Eric's POV, the reasons and excuses he offers himself for these mistakes showed me how he as a human being grew up through these pages.
The timeline is the mid 90's, wherein news papers were beginning that steady decline into mediocrity being replaced slowly by electronic news. The story centres around Eric Truell who is a blue eyed wonder boy of a reporter for the respectable New York Mirror. Chance encounters and that unbridled hunger for a story brings him close to the CIA and a loose cannon of an operative who leaks the most juiciest of stories to him. Riding on the wings of these, Eric becomes a super star overnight which destroys lives and careers of others in the process and also wins him powerful enemies. The initial celebrity clamour dies down to be replaced with self doubt, a desire to be morally right and later with abject terror at the power of his enemies. What he also realises with time is that you don't go to bed with the CIA with the agency also not wanting a few favours from you. The action moves from Paris, Washington, Beijing and to Montreal and the feeling of fear at the reach of the antagonists mounts with the chapters.
When you read a book by someone who knows what he/she is writing about, it can make a world of a difference to your enjoyment level. In case of this book, David Ignatius knows what he is writing about for he himself was a journalist and a foreign correspondent at varied times in his career. The plot is fast paced and there aren't any gun trotting intelligence operatives in here. there are no fast paced car chases, gun battles or steamy sex scenes. In its place is the monster of corporate corruption and human fallibility in the face of the temptation of money and power. The protagonist Eric was a smooth operator and one who was unapologetic about his mistakes which cost many a person dearly. Being told from Eric's POV, the reasons and excuses he offers himself for these mistakes showed me how he as a human being grew up through these pages.
October 31, 2015
This book is all about Eric Truell, a reporter from The Mirror uncovering big secrets all around the world that could lead to a very big slaughter worldwide. It all starts in Paris where Eric gets caught up in a hostage situation. It then leads back to the United States where he works in D.C. It then progresses to him contacting a CIA operative to get to the bottom of another mystery but then turns into another mystery which takes Eric and one of his colleagues going to China and the colleague get shot and dying there. If you likes Bloodmoney you will certainly not want to drop thi8s book.
November 18, 2011
Great book, great writing and gives you a good feel for the journalist scene especially international journalism. Solid main character and wonderful story telling from his POV. My first read of Ignatius and I immediately put two more of his works on hold at the library.
February 27, 2018
Antiseptic and dull.
August 28, 2017
In Washington wordt de uitvaart van Arthur Bowman, een oude rot in het krantenvak die, gehouden. Hij is, op pad voor de Mirror, in China op gewelddadige wijze om het leven is gekomen.
De enige die de 'echte' omstandigheden van zijn dood kent, is collega-journalist Eric Truell, die bij hem was toen hij stierf. Truell weet dat hij zijn collega's nooit op de hoogte zal kunnen brengen van wat er werkelijk gebeurd is.
Dit alles begint bij het feit dat Truell een primeur ruikt, die verstrekkende gevolgen blijkt te hebben vooral zowel Amerika als Frankrijk
De start van het boek kwam op mij nogal wat rommelig over. Dit omdat ik niet wist wat de achtergrond van de uitvaart van Bowman was. Echter, dat zorgde er tevens voor dat ik zeer geïntrigeerd raakte door wat er zich dan wel had afgespeeld in China. De overgang naar de periode in Frankrijk was erg sterk.
In eerste instantie had ik niet door wat het gedeelte in Frankrijk ermee te maken had, maar dat werd, naarmate het verhaal vorderde, steeds duidelijker. Ignatius weet het verhaal ontzettend goed te verwoorden, waardoor ik 'aan de buis gekluisterd zit', maar dan met een bladzijde. De omschrijving is scherp, spannend en eigenwijs tegelijkertijd. Dat maakt Truell zo'n uitstekend karakter.
Over karakters gesproken. David Ignatius weet alle karakters duidelijk te omschrijven. Als lezer ontwikkel je snel een gevoel bij een bepaalde persoonlijkheid, zoals Bowman. Dit maakt het verhaal erg levendig, maar zeker herkenbaar. Ik zit zelf in het journalistieke vak en kan mij als geen ander inbeelden hoe concreet dit boek eigenlijk is. De bezuinigingen, de vooroordelen en de bijzondere karaktertrekjes van sommige personages. Dit heeft de schrijver echt uitstekend weten te verwoorden.
Na de spannende wendingen in Frankrijk komt Truell in Washington terecht. Ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik dit het minst sterke hoofdstuk uit het boek vond. Ik had veel moeite met de CIA-agenten, ze begonnen mij steeds meer te irriteren. Daarnaast ging dit deel van het boek veel over Truell zijn persoonlijke leven, iets wat erg tegenvalt na het verhaal in Frankrijk. Echter, dit deed de lezer wel goed beseffen wat voor hekel Truell aan dat leven had en waarom hij dus steeds vaker op onderzoek uitging.
Wat ik vooral mooi vond aan het verhaal in China, was dat alle puzzelstukjes samenkwamen. Het eerste deel van het boek bleek een stuk belangrijker, dan ik aanvankelijk had kunnen bedenken. Dat was een "ooooh"-moment voor mij: iets wat je als schrijver maar moet kunnen behalen, denk ik. Het deel over China was ook meteen het tegenovergestelde van het deel in Washington. De spanning, de actie en de achterdocht waren terug. Alhoewel ik de dood van Bowman wat vond tegenvallen.
Maar wat Ignatius uitstekend heeft gedaan in dit boek is de spanningsboog verdelen. De lezer krijgt een paar hoofdstukken rust, maar dan begint het riedeltje weer van voren af aan. Een geheime brief, onderzoek, actie, een sterk verhaal, het zijn allemaal elementen die de schrijver op het juiste moment uit de kast weet te halen. Hierdoor blijf je als lezer toch doorlezen.
Het laatste deel van het verhaal was ietwat lastiger door te komen. Je wil zelf dat Truell een fantastisch verhaal schrijft over wat er is gebeurd, maar je weet dat dit niet zomaar kan. Echter, het werd wel wat uitgemolken door opnieuw met een geheimzinnig briefje te komen. Na de dood van Bowman en de terugkeer in Washington verwacht je een einde aan het verhaal. Het is jammer dat de schrijver daar niet meteen voor gekozen heeft, want het uitgestelde einde heeft afbreuk gedaan aan het gehele boek.
Ik zou iedereen, helemaal uit dit vak, willen aanraden om het boek eenmaal te lezen. Het is sterk, herkenbaar en zit vol actie. Een duidelijk aanrader is het wel, ondanks het teleurstellende eind. Toch nog 4 van de 5 sterren.
De enige die de 'echte' omstandigheden van zijn dood kent, is collega-journalist Eric Truell, die bij hem was toen hij stierf. Truell weet dat hij zijn collega's nooit op de hoogte zal kunnen brengen van wat er werkelijk gebeurd is.
Dit alles begint bij het feit dat Truell een primeur ruikt, die verstrekkende gevolgen blijkt te hebben vooral zowel Amerika als Frankrijk
De start van het boek kwam op mij nogal wat rommelig over. Dit omdat ik niet wist wat de achtergrond van de uitvaart van Bowman was. Echter, dat zorgde er tevens voor dat ik zeer geïntrigeerd raakte door wat er zich dan wel had afgespeeld in China. De overgang naar de periode in Frankrijk was erg sterk.
In eerste instantie had ik niet door wat het gedeelte in Frankrijk ermee te maken had, maar dat werd, naarmate het verhaal vorderde, steeds duidelijker. Ignatius weet het verhaal ontzettend goed te verwoorden, waardoor ik 'aan de buis gekluisterd zit', maar dan met een bladzijde. De omschrijving is scherp, spannend en eigenwijs tegelijkertijd. Dat maakt Truell zo'n uitstekend karakter.
Over karakters gesproken. David Ignatius weet alle karakters duidelijk te omschrijven. Als lezer ontwikkel je snel een gevoel bij een bepaalde persoonlijkheid, zoals Bowman. Dit maakt het verhaal erg levendig, maar zeker herkenbaar. Ik zit zelf in het journalistieke vak en kan mij als geen ander inbeelden hoe concreet dit boek eigenlijk is. De bezuinigingen, de vooroordelen en de bijzondere karaktertrekjes van sommige personages. Dit heeft de schrijver echt uitstekend weten te verwoorden.
Na de spannende wendingen in Frankrijk komt Truell in Washington terecht. Ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik dit het minst sterke hoofdstuk uit het boek vond. Ik had veel moeite met de CIA-agenten, ze begonnen mij steeds meer te irriteren. Daarnaast ging dit deel van het boek veel over Truell zijn persoonlijke leven, iets wat erg tegenvalt na het verhaal in Frankrijk. Echter, dit deed de lezer wel goed beseffen wat voor hekel Truell aan dat leven had en waarom hij dus steeds vaker op onderzoek uitging.
Wat ik vooral mooi vond aan het verhaal in China, was dat alle puzzelstukjes samenkwamen. Het eerste deel van het boek bleek een stuk belangrijker, dan ik aanvankelijk had kunnen bedenken. Dat was een "ooooh"-moment voor mij: iets wat je als schrijver maar moet kunnen behalen, denk ik. Het deel over China was ook meteen het tegenovergestelde van het deel in Washington. De spanning, de actie en de achterdocht waren terug. Alhoewel ik de dood van Bowman wat vond tegenvallen.
Maar wat Ignatius uitstekend heeft gedaan in dit boek is de spanningsboog verdelen. De lezer krijgt een paar hoofdstukken rust, maar dan begint het riedeltje weer van voren af aan. Een geheime brief, onderzoek, actie, een sterk verhaal, het zijn allemaal elementen die de schrijver op het juiste moment uit de kast weet te halen. Hierdoor blijf je als lezer toch doorlezen.
Het laatste deel van het verhaal was ietwat lastiger door te komen. Je wil zelf dat Truell een fantastisch verhaal schrijft over wat er is gebeurd, maar je weet dat dit niet zomaar kan. Echter, het werd wel wat uitgemolken door opnieuw met een geheimzinnig briefje te komen. Na de dood van Bowman en de terugkeer in Washington verwacht je een einde aan het verhaal. Het is jammer dat de schrijver daar niet meteen voor gekozen heeft, want het uitgestelde einde heeft afbreuk gedaan aan het gehele boek.
Ik zou iedereen, helemaal uit dit vak, willen aanraden om het boek eenmaal te lezen. Het is sterk, herkenbaar en zit vol actie. Een duidelijk aanrader is het wel, ondanks het teleurstellende eind. Toch nog 4 van de 5 sterren.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2018
“A Firing Offense” is an early novel of David Ignatius, who is a famous journalist at the Washington Post. I see him a lot on MSNBC as a foreign affairs expert, particularly on “Morning Joe”. After I finished the book, I looked him up on Wikipedia and see that he is a descendant of Cotton Mather, as well as the son of a Secretary of the Navy. He is the same age as myself and graduated Summa Cum Laude in Economics from Harvard. I got a degree from Kansas University in Econ the same year, (1973), and I can assure you I was not Summa Cum anything except Orange Barrel Acid and Lebanese hashish, both of which are currently out of print.
Ignatius does not write like a stuffed shirt douche from Harvard, and there are some fun parts to the novel where he displays a sort of contempt for the kind of person he would appear to be. The book is in the first person, and I like his voice, at least in the first half of the novel. He sounds like he does on “Morning Joe”, careful, under control, with a hint of impishness and an unpompous delivery.
My problem is that he tries to come off as a bit of an expert on China, which is the dark menace of the story, and falls into the common trap of seeing the Beijing government as a malevolent monolithic “borg” like entity that will consume the rest of the world with no conscience or concern for the larger issues, such as the well being of the planet or humankind in general. I don't agree with this assessment. He also makes the French out to be just as bad, which is weird because the French government gave him the “Legion of Honor” later for some reason.
He does display a knowledge of Beijing geography, describing the area around Wangfujing and Haidian. But he creates incidents in the city that do not seem at all likely and seems to imply that the Chinese would allow a foreign power, (France) leeway to do some despicable things in their own capital. I suppose anything is possible, but my experience tells me that this is a far-out right-wing fantasy, as well as provocative. But at the time he wrote it Yeltsin was in power in Russia, and the Tiananmen events were fresh, so it is understandable that China would be the “bad guy”.
Ignatius, supported the war in Iraq, (a forever black mark on his record) and has a peculiar history in having unique and almost "Oldboy network" access to American Intelligence (Glenn Greenwald - ”David Ignatius built his career on being a faithful spokesman of the most powerful”). In “A Firing Offense” his main character, Truell, a journalist, is ruined by his relationship with the CIA. In real life, it seems like that relationship has been a source of power to Ignatius, almost to the point of complicity.
His main character, Truell, has a love interest, a powerful woman journalist who sees things through the prism of personal relationships and peccadillos, someone like Maureen Dowd, who it is possible he knew as a youth, as they are both the same age and both grew up in Washington. In the novel, he and "Ann" were lovers when they were young and then again later in their thirties, and they make love in a respectful, gentle, and sensitive way, so you know it has no future, and she ends up with someone else. While the main character, Truell is somewhat interesting, and at first likable, the story really drifts and drags at the end.
I don’t recommend it.
Ignatius does not write like a stuffed shirt douche from Harvard, and there are some fun parts to the novel where he displays a sort of contempt for the kind of person he would appear to be. The book is in the first person, and I like his voice, at least in the first half of the novel. He sounds like he does on “Morning Joe”, careful, under control, with a hint of impishness and an unpompous delivery.
My problem is that he tries to come off as a bit of an expert on China, which is the dark menace of the story, and falls into the common trap of seeing the Beijing government as a malevolent monolithic “borg” like entity that will consume the rest of the world with no conscience or concern for the larger issues, such as the well being of the planet or humankind in general. I don't agree with this assessment. He also makes the French out to be just as bad, which is weird because the French government gave him the “Legion of Honor” later for some reason.
He does display a knowledge of Beijing geography, describing the area around Wangfujing and Haidian. But he creates incidents in the city that do not seem at all likely and seems to imply that the Chinese would allow a foreign power, (France) leeway to do some despicable things in their own capital. I suppose anything is possible, but my experience tells me that this is a far-out right-wing fantasy, as well as provocative. But at the time he wrote it Yeltsin was in power in Russia, and the Tiananmen events were fresh, so it is understandable that China would be the “bad guy”.
Ignatius, supported the war in Iraq, (a forever black mark on his record) and has a peculiar history in having unique and almost "Oldboy network" access to American Intelligence (Glenn Greenwald - ”David Ignatius built his career on being a faithful spokesman of the most powerful”). In “A Firing Offense” his main character, Truell, a journalist, is ruined by his relationship with the CIA. In real life, it seems like that relationship has been a source of power to Ignatius, almost to the point of complicity.
His main character, Truell, has a love interest, a powerful woman journalist who sees things through the prism of personal relationships and peccadillos, someone like Maureen Dowd, who it is possible he knew as a youth, as they are both the same age and both grew up in Washington. In the novel, he and "Ann" were lovers when they were young and then again later in their thirties, and they make love in a respectful, gentle, and sensitive way, so you know it has no future, and she ends up with someone else. While the main character, Truell is somewhat interesting, and at first likable, the story really drifts and drags at the end.
I don’t recommend it.
May 9, 2022
This was a slow burn of a book, one whose action actually started near the chronological end, rewound through an extended flashback, and took off as the action caught up to the opening of the book. Setting up the book like that made for interesting reading as one event wasn't really a surprise, but still shocking as the pieces starting falling into place. Featuring a newspaper reporter as the main character, the book was surprisingly entertaining with the added benefit of exposing me to a profession I actually know very little about.
The book had a number of review blubs printed on it's cover, including a few which referenced John le Carre. Most of the time I feel like invoking le Carre is a bit much, but the similarities in this case were obvious and fitting. Like many of le Carre's works, there was as much emphasis on the psychological elements as there were on the "action" scenes. Without the psychological elements, I don't think the action would have been as impactful or tense.
The book had a number of review blubs printed on it's cover, including a few which referenced John le Carre. Most of the time I feel like invoking le Carre is a bit much, but the similarities in this case were obvious and fitting. Like many of le Carre's works, there was as much emphasis on the psychological elements as there were on the "action" scenes. Without the psychological elements, I don't think the action would have been as impactful or tense.
June 30, 2019
This is typical for Ignatius. It is spy stuff with high drama but eminently believable without any Hollywood nonsense. This one started slow but was surprisingly good for surprisingly long once it got going. It also had a less depressing ending than most Ignatius novels although Ignatius never lets everyone live happily ever after (it opens in media res at a funeral after all).
The plot would have gotten 4 stars, but it lost a star for the author's self-indulgence in slipping in part-paean, part-manifesto descriptions of life as a journalist, complete with a healthy dose of pretention.
The plot would have gotten 4 stars, but it lost a star for the author's self-indulgence in slipping in part-paean, part-manifesto descriptions of life as a journalist, complete with a healthy dose of pretention.
July 22, 2023
Never considered myself much of a spy thriller fan, but listened to the recent Ignatius novella in the Washington Post (“The Tao of Deception”) on a lark and was delighted how much I enjoyed it. This prompted me to try one of his full-length novels which is how I ended up here. Maybe not a fair comparison as this was his very first, but it felt a bit unnecessarily unwieldy. But definitely a fun listen, mostly while gardening. Too bad it wasn’t read by Ignatius himself (as was the Post novella) because he’s very good at that too.
December 29, 2019
David Ignatius writes a great novel. I can really escape the world around me when I read him. All his novels seem to be different from one another, but they have one thing in common - they are great stories. To me David Ignatius is a author that writes novels between two of my favourite authors: Daniel Silva and Joseph Finder - novels based on stories that a a cross between Spy novels and business thriller novels.
August 14, 2025
Commentary
I always wanted to listen to David Ignatius during the Sunday morning talk shows and others. He seemed to have his finger on the pulse of DC with respect to national security and foreign affairs. The book is about the problems of a reporter who gets involved with some sleazy financiers and the intelligence community. If one were sensitive to those issues, this might be a great book. But for me it had the feeling of a whiner.
I always wanted to listen to David Ignatius during the Sunday morning talk shows and others. He seemed to have his finger on the pulse of DC with respect to national security and foreign affairs. The book is about the problems of a reporter who gets involved with some sleazy financiers and the intelligence community. If one were sensitive to those issues, this might be a great book. But for me it had the feeling of a whiner.
April 27, 2021
A morality tale about ambition and liHowfe
A very engrossing tale about one can be sucked into doing the right thing in ambiguous situations when you mix in ambition with a dash of lost love. A meloncoly tale of playing on the big stage with all its dangers and its aftermath. Ultimately a story of our time.
A very engrossing tale about one can be sucked into doing the right thing in ambiguous situations when you mix in ambition with a dash of lost love. A meloncoly tale of playing on the big stage with all its dangers and its aftermath. Ultimately a story of our time.
September 19, 2025
This is a very solid book. A past experience with another book written by this author didn't lead me to have high expectations but I was very pleasantly surprised.
Though he plot sometimes seemed a bit too long and meandering, a level of suspense and interest was maintained throughout and the windup at the end was very satisfying. I enjoyed it very much.
Though he plot sometimes seemed a bit too long and meandering, a level of suspense and interest was maintained throughout and the windup at the end was very satisfying. I enjoyed it very much.
March 16, 2018
The worlds of journalism and spying intersect in intriguing ways here and the journalism stuff is even more relevant now, twenty years on. I liked this much better than his newest one - meatier plot, better characterization - but don't think I'll continue.
June 6, 2018
Explains A Lot..
This is a good book. It presents a different angle on today's media problems and international diplomacy. That makes it sound boring but it really isn't. The characters are well defined and story is entertaining. I'll read more of his work.
This is a good book. It presents a different angle on today's media problems and international diplomacy. That makes it sound boring but it really isn't. The characters are well defined and story is entertaining. I'll read more of his work.
August 27, 2018
Published in the late 90’s this book is still relevant in today’s times as the plot revolves around trade wars as reported by a young enterprising reporter for a major NY Paper which is in disparate financial straits. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and would recommend it to all.
September 2, 2018
A bit too much journalist stuff, but that goes with the story...
I found the first quarter was the most interesting part, the most intense, then came a long section I just waded through, it was ok, and the last quarter got more interesting again. Quick ending.
I found the first quarter was the most interesting part, the most intense, then came a long section I just waded through, it was ok, and the last quarter got more interesting again. Quick ending.
August 17, 2020
The first 2/3rds of the book held the main story. The last third was anti-climactic. But the main story was rich in content and character development. It pertains to the adventures and growth of a savvy, smart young journalist, Eric Truell, and his colorful mentors.
June 18, 2022
Entertaining read - pulls together journalism, banking, espionage, and thriller together. I enjoyed the writing in Mr Ignatius’s more recent thrillers. You can not help but to learn about this mysterious world we live in.
November 28, 2024
Another great thriller with a new twist
Ignatius’ spy thrillers have been amongst my favorites, but this one centering on journalism was equally satisfying. He masters the genre as he weaves in and out of real and fictional situations.
Ignatius’ spy thrillers have been amongst my favorites, but this one centering on journalism was equally satisfying. He masters the genre as he weaves in and out of real and fictional situations.
February 6, 2025
My 1st David Agnatius novel and it won't be my last. Fast paced political, social thriller. David has invited us into his world of Journalism. You travel around the world with Eric Truell. The mystery is constantly unfolding.
June 13, 2025
News Worthy
I hope I don’t embarrass David Ignatius, but his writing reminds me so much of another author Nelson DeMille. As you read A Firing Offense you feel like you’re part of the story. I read this book in 2 sittings and was sorry it ended.
I hope I don’t embarrass David Ignatius, but his writing reminds me so much of another author Nelson DeMille. As you read A Firing Offense you feel like you’re part of the story. I read this book in 2 sittings and was sorry it ended.
May 21, 2017
I always enjoy the way that Ignatius develops his character and the plot. This no exception. I enjoyed the novel.
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