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The Tehran Text
The tense and explosive sequel to The Prague Papers
1978.
Iran is in ferment and the British Intelligence Service wants Tana Standish’s assessment. It appears that CIA agents are painting too rosy a picture, perhaps because they’re colluding with the state torturers…
Allegiances and loyalties are strained as Tana’s mission becomes deadly and personal. Old friends are snatched, tortured and killed by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police. She has to use all her skills as a secret agent and psychic to stay one step ahead of the oppressors and traitors.
As the country stumbles towards the Islamic Revolution, the Shah’s grip on power weakens. There’s real concern for the MI6 listening post near the Afghan border. Only Tana Standish is available to investigate; yet it’s possible she could be walking into a trap, as the deadly female Spetsnaz fighter Aksakov has been sent to abduct Tana.
Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, the sympathetic Yakunin, the psychic spy tracking Tana, is being sidelined by a killer psychic, capable of weakening Tana at the critical moment in combat with Aksakov. Can Yakunin save Tana without being discovered?
In the troubled streets of Iran’s ancient cities and amidst the frozen wastes on the Afghan border, Tana makes new friends and new enemies…
The Tana Standish spy
1 – The Prague Papers
2 – The Tehran Text
~
Reviews for The Prague Papers
Morton's heroine Tana is made of stern stuff...
~ Michael Parker, author of The Devil’s Trinity and The Third Secret
Interestingly, Morton sells it as a true story passed to him by an agent and published as fiction, a literary ploy often used by master thriller writer Jack Higgins. Let’s just say that it works better than Higgins.
~Danny Collins, author of The Bloodiest Battles
… gave me that feeling of “being there myself”, rubbing shoulders with his characters, and for quite a while after finishing it, I found myself thinking about them and all they had been through.
~ William Daysh, author of Over by Christmas
As well as creating memorable characters, Morton captures the essence of Prague and the Czech soul, educates us into the world of Eastern Bloc politics, and tells an intricate tale of espionage...
~ Maureen Moss, Travel journalist
1978.
Iran is in ferment and the British Intelligence Service wants Tana Standish’s assessment. It appears that CIA agents are painting too rosy a picture, perhaps because they’re colluding with the state torturers…
Allegiances and loyalties are strained as Tana’s mission becomes deadly and personal. Old friends are snatched, tortured and killed by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police. She has to use all her skills as a secret agent and psychic to stay one step ahead of the oppressors and traitors.
As the country stumbles towards the Islamic Revolution, the Shah’s grip on power weakens. There’s real concern for the MI6 listening post near the Afghan border. Only Tana Standish is available to investigate; yet it’s possible she could be walking into a trap, as the deadly female Spetsnaz fighter Aksakov has been sent to abduct Tana.
Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, the sympathetic Yakunin, the psychic spy tracking Tana, is being sidelined by a killer psychic, capable of weakening Tana at the critical moment in combat with Aksakov. Can Yakunin save Tana without being discovered?
In the troubled streets of Iran’s ancient cities and amidst the frozen wastes on the Afghan border, Tana makes new friends and new enemies…
The Tana Standish spy
1 – The Prague Papers
2 – The Tehran Text
~
Reviews for The Prague Papers
Morton's heroine Tana is made of stern stuff...
~ Michael Parker, author of The Devil’s Trinity and The Third Secret
Interestingly, Morton sells it as a true story passed to him by an agent and published as fiction, a literary ploy often used by master thriller writer Jack Higgins. Let’s just say that it works better than Higgins.
~Danny Collins, author of The Bloodiest Battles
… gave me that feeling of “being there myself”, rubbing shoulders with his characters, and for quite a while after finishing it, I found myself thinking about them and all they had been through.
~ William Daysh, author of Over by Christmas
As well as creating memorable characters, Morton captures the essence of Prague and the Czech soul, educates us into the world of Eastern Bloc politics, and tells an intricate tale of espionage...
~ Maureen Moss, Travel journalist
ebook
First published February 14, 2015
2 people want to read
About the author
Nik Morton
69 books41 followersNik Morton is the author of a collection of 23 crime short stories collected in Leon Cazador, P.I., a romantic thriller series Catalyst, Catacomb and Cataclysm, Write a Western in 30 Days, three psychic spy Cold War thrillers Mission: Prague, Mission: Tehran, and Mission: Khyber, a romantic crime thriller An Evil Trade, a vampire thriller set in Malta, Chill of the Shadow, and five other collections of his short stories: Gifts from a Dead Race (sci-fi, horror, fantasy), Nourish a Blind Life (sci-fi, horror, fantasy), Visitors (westerns), Codename Gaby (historical), I Celebrate Myself (crime and adventure). He is also the author of the noir western Cash Laramie adventures, Bullets for a Ballot and Coffin for Cash, and two sci-fi novellas in Continuity Girl. His fantasy novels Floreskand: Wings, Floreskand: King and Floreskand: Madurava are co-authored with Gordon Faulkner.
Writing as Ross Morton, Nik has 6 Robert Hale western novels published: Death at Bethesda Falls, Last Chance Saloon, The $300 Man, Blind Justice at Wedlock and Old Guns, and The Magnificent Mendozas. He’s the editor of A Fistful of Legends, 21 stories of the Old West.
He sold his first story in 1971 and has had many articles and 120 short stories published, 88 of them in the 5 collection books.
Nik served in the Royal Navy for over twenty years and now lives in north-east England with his linguist/musician wife Jennifer. Their daughter, son-in-law and grandson live nearby. Nik was Editor in Chief of a US Publisher 2011-2013.
Writing as Ross Morton, Nik has 6 Robert Hale western novels published: Death at Bethesda Falls, Last Chance Saloon, The $300 Man, Blind Justice at Wedlock and Old Guns, and The Magnificent Mendozas. He’s the editor of A Fistful of Legends, 21 stories of the Old West.
He sold his first story in 1971 and has had many articles and 120 short stories published, 88 of them in the 5 collection books.
Nik served in the Royal Navy for over twenty years and now lives in north-east England with his linguist/musician wife Jennifer. Their daughter, son-in-law and grandson live nearby. Nik was Editor in Chief of a US Publisher 2011-2013.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 27, 2016
This is the second adventure of covert agent Tana Standish. Tana’s not simply a sure-shot with a sniper rifle and a dab hand at close-quarters unarmed combat. She brings a range of extrasensory abilities to the fray, neatly balancing the physical limitations of a female agent in those crucial kill / be killed clinches.
Tana’s missions are set in the latter era of the Cold War. This one takes place in Iran in the late 1970s, when the fault-lines in Shah’s western-supported regime threaten to split the totalitarian government asunder. Tana has local assets to protect and scores to settle. She’s under constant surveillance by the Soviet’s psi-spy school who’d be delighted to subject Tana to ‘intimate examination’, and they’ve tasked an accomplished Spetsnaz agent to abduct her.
The opening chapters have a complex scene to set, spanning many centuries while weaving fictional characters into the historical context. It’s something of a slog, a succession of exotic names, places and people which I initially struggled to make sense of. But bear with it – once the main players are in place the pace really picks up. And all credit to the author for setting his story in such an intriguing situation, radically different to the usual 1950s/1960s Eastern European Cold War scenario.
This is a substantial book, not the sort of thriller you skip through without paying careful attention. It maybe goes on a little too long and some of the characters are quite lightly sketched. Perhaps I would have cared more about fewer players drawn in greater depth. But The Tehran Text carefully balances the psy aspects of the story with more down to earth concerns – like the increasingly apparent discord between MI6 and the CIA, the grimy reality of undercover action in hostile territory.
Morton knows how to write a kick-ass action sequence, too, with fight scenes that rival the best of Bourne or Bond.
It’ll be fascinating to find out what happens in the next instalment, assuming that Tana’s operations in the region continue as the Soviet 40th army rolls in Kabul…
7/10
There's a more detailed review here:
https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress...
Tana’s missions are set in the latter era of the Cold War. This one takes place in Iran in the late 1970s, when the fault-lines in Shah’s western-supported regime threaten to split the totalitarian government asunder. Tana has local assets to protect and scores to settle. She’s under constant surveillance by the Soviet’s psi-spy school who’d be delighted to subject Tana to ‘intimate examination’, and they’ve tasked an accomplished Spetsnaz agent to abduct her.
The opening chapters have a complex scene to set, spanning many centuries while weaving fictional characters into the historical context. It’s something of a slog, a succession of exotic names, places and people which I initially struggled to make sense of. But bear with it – once the main players are in place the pace really picks up. And all credit to the author for setting his story in such an intriguing situation, radically different to the usual 1950s/1960s Eastern European Cold War scenario.
This is a substantial book, not the sort of thriller you skip through without paying careful attention. It maybe goes on a little too long and some of the characters are quite lightly sketched. Perhaps I would have cared more about fewer players drawn in greater depth. But The Tehran Text carefully balances the psy aspects of the story with more down to earth concerns – like the increasingly apparent discord between MI6 and the CIA, the grimy reality of undercover action in hostile territory.
Morton knows how to write a kick-ass action sequence, too, with fight scenes that rival the best of Bourne or Bond.
It’ll be fascinating to find out what happens in the next instalment, assuming that Tana’s operations in the region continue as the Soviet 40th army rolls in Kabul…
7/10
There's a more detailed review here:
https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress...
February 8, 2016
I looked forward to reading this novel since I’ve read #1 of this series. I have to say #2 The Tehran Text was quite complicated at the beginning, and keeping track of the characters was definitely a challenge, but overall it was a fabulous and smartly paced read. I wasn’t too familiar with the Iranian situation prior to 1979, but the scenario put forward in The Tehran Text helped me to understand the life circumstances which Tana was inhabiting-for short durations.
Tana definitely leads an exciting life as a British agent extraordinaire, her psychic abilities making her even more successful than normal- though even the best agent can sometimes find themselves in some very tricky and sticky situations! The double life she leads under cover is not for the faint hearted and it was a sad read when some of her locally based activist friends meet their grisly end. Spies and double agents abound in the novel, many with almost comparable psychic abilities to Tana, which make life very deadly at times for her and her fellow British agents. I certainly wouldn’t want to meet the Spetsnaz female agent Aksakov in real life but I am looking forward to reading more of the empathetic Yakunin. I await more of Tana Standish!
Tana definitely leads an exciting life as a British agent extraordinaire, her psychic abilities making her even more successful than normal- though even the best agent can sometimes find themselves in some very tricky and sticky situations! The double life she leads under cover is not for the faint hearted and it was a sad read when some of her locally based activist friends meet their grisly end. Spies and double agents abound in the novel, many with almost comparable psychic abilities to Tana, which make life very deadly at times for her and her fellow British agents. I certainly wouldn’t want to meet the Spetsnaz female agent Aksakov in real life but I am looking forward to reading more of the empathetic Yakunin. I await more of Tana Standish!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews