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Succubus
2003: The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has taken place. The hunt for Saddam Hussein and the search for his weapons of mass destruction is underway.
Meanwhile in North Korea, a nuclear research scientist wants to defect.
The "Org" is tasked to bring her out.
.... If possible ....
Author_Bio: A native of Pittsburgh and a resident of Northern Virginia, the author is a former Special Agent of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. State Department.
His career included criminal investigations and dignitary protection in the Miami and Washington field offices, as well as a tour in MSD - or the DSS Mobile Security Division. With MSD he provided training, tactical support to protective details and emergency security enhancement to high threat embassies and consulates around the world.
Assigned overseas, he was a member of the Regional Security Offices in El Salvador, South Africa and China.
Prior to retirement, he served as the Chief of the DSS Counterintelligence Division.
Keywords: Nuclear, Spying, Org, JICSA, Special Operations, Defector, North Korea, Iraq, Italy,
Meanwhile in North Korea, a nuclear research scientist wants to defect.
The "Org" is tasked to bring her out.
.... If possible ....
Author_Bio: A native of Pittsburgh and a resident of Northern Virginia, the author is a former Special Agent of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. State Department.
His career included criminal investigations and dignitary protection in the Miami and Washington field offices, as well as a tour in MSD - or the DSS Mobile Security Division. With MSD he provided training, tactical support to protective details and emergency security enhancement to high threat embassies and consulates around the world.
Assigned overseas, he was a member of the Regional Security Offices in El Salvador, South Africa and China.
Prior to retirement, he served as the Chief of the DSS Counterintelligence Division.
Keywords: Nuclear, Spying, Org, JICSA, Special Operations, Defector, North Korea, Iraq, Italy,
- GenresThriller
192 pages, ebook
Published January 31, 2018
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 24, 2021
Clandestine
I really enjoy a good political spy thriller and Regis Sheehan reminded me of what a great one looks like in Succubus. It is a really clever and well-structured plot that interweaves fictional defectors from North Korea into the real-life global political scene we’re experiencing. It’s an engrossing story with an expansive global landscape and great believable characters. The intrigue and threat are always prevalent which keeps the atmosphere heightened throughout the book.
The story takes place from secret locations throughout the USA to aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, from Italy to China, from Iraq to Japan, and between North and South Korea. The detail is superb and it is unsurprising that Regis Sheehan has a background as an agent in the US State Department, Diplomatic Security Service.
The story is set in 2003 just after the Iraq war and hunt for Sadam Hussain. The search for weapons of mass destruction is proving misleading so we have a sceptical world as to motivations behind the military interventions and foreign interference. Within this context and with worsening relationships between the USA and North Korea, we have a high level North Korean diplomat (Ro Jae-Ki), based in Rome, wanting to defect along with his niece (Hwa Nari - a nuclear research scientist) who is still living in North Korea. The Songbun class system in North Korea is very interesting: Top of the system the “Loyal Class” who enjoy the highest living and educational standards. The “Wavering Class” are the largest group of workers who are loyal but their loyalties can be reasonably questioned. The “Hostile Class” are anti-revolutionary people, former landowners, former pro-Japanese families, various criminals and families of defectors. This defection is just about to condemn Ro’s remaining family from the Loyal to the Hostile Class – at best. Not that it seems to bother Ro much.
A military team is formed to undertake Hwa Nari's extraction from North Korea and the sense of danger and menace surrounding their task, and any capture triggers suicide, using implanted suicide vials rather than be taken prisoner. Plans rarely work perfectly and their mission code-named ARGENT SUCCUBUS will be no exception.
The only real criticism I have with the story is that there are a lot of acronyms used and it takes a while before the more important ones sink in. I found myself categorising different groups/units/departments etc. as USA - secret, USA - really secret, USA - really really secret and the same for other countries. I couldn’t quote you one abbreviation now. For others, this may resonate strongly and add to the authentic feel of the narration and dialogue, but for me, it slowed the story down.
I would recommend this book as an enthralling, intriguing and suspenseful political espionage thriller. I’ll definitely read Regis’ other books.
I really enjoy a good political spy thriller and Regis Sheehan reminded me of what a great one looks like in Succubus. It is a really clever and well-structured plot that interweaves fictional defectors from North Korea into the real-life global political scene we’re experiencing. It’s an engrossing story with an expansive global landscape and great believable characters. The intrigue and threat are always prevalent which keeps the atmosphere heightened throughout the book.
The story takes place from secret locations throughout the USA to aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, from Italy to China, from Iraq to Japan, and between North and South Korea. The detail is superb and it is unsurprising that Regis Sheehan has a background as an agent in the US State Department, Diplomatic Security Service.
The story is set in 2003 just after the Iraq war and hunt for Sadam Hussain. The search for weapons of mass destruction is proving misleading so we have a sceptical world as to motivations behind the military interventions and foreign interference. Within this context and with worsening relationships between the USA and North Korea, we have a high level North Korean diplomat (Ro Jae-Ki), based in Rome, wanting to defect along with his niece (Hwa Nari - a nuclear research scientist) who is still living in North Korea. The Songbun class system in North Korea is very interesting: Top of the system the “Loyal Class” who enjoy the highest living and educational standards. The “Wavering Class” are the largest group of workers who are loyal but their loyalties can be reasonably questioned. The “Hostile Class” are anti-revolutionary people, former landowners, former pro-Japanese families, various criminals and families of defectors. This defection is just about to condemn Ro’s remaining family from the Loyal to the Hostile Class – at best. Not that it seems to bother Ro much.
A military team is formed to undertake Hwa Nari's extraction from North Korea and the sense of danger and menace surrounding their task, and any capture triggers suicide, using implanted suicide vials rather than be taken prisoner. Plans rarely work perfectly and their mission code-named ARGENT SUCCUBUS will be no exception.
The only real criticism I have with the story is that there are a lot of acronyms used and it takes a while before the more important ones sink in. I found myself categorising different groups/units/departments etc. as USA - secret, USA - really secret, USA - really really secret and the same for other countries. I couldn’t quote you one abbreviation now. For others, this may resonate strongly and add to the authentic feel of the narration and dialogue, but for me, it slowed the story down.
I would recommend this book as an enthralling, intriguing and suspenseful political espionage thriller. I’ll definitely read Regis’ other books.
October 20, 2018
This is an effortless read, not because the plot is simple, but because it is accurately written without the wads of supporting, though ultimately unnecessary detail common to so many spy/espionage thrillers. One could never describe Succubus as a ‘fat book’, engorged by superfluous, minutely detailed, descriptive paragraphs. This book is in a series of what I assume to be similarly economic-with-words novels. In this case classification as a novella has some credence, especially when the factual historical background is mentally separated into prologue. Inevitably, the so recent backstory will seem superfluous to some readers, but it certainly helps add a quality of realism to the fictional events whatever one’s previous knowledge of world affairs. I found it very easy to buy into the book as truth, which in a sense I’m sure it is. I’m sure that all the personal story elements have been accurately mirrored many times in the history of modern-day Korea.
The plot is exciting, with the traction to engage the reader despite the aforementioned economic writing style. We don’t have to be told how the blood drips, how the bullet distorts the flesh, how the cold creeps into ill-nourished bones to know, to see these terrors in the mind’s eye. Though this work is light on superfluous sentiment we are given a sufficiency of insight for us to generate our own details of character and those momentarily described scenes.
The directness of the writing is perhaps indicative of the work of a writer that has spent a working life at the sharp end of security and intelligence services, where long sentimental reflection is at best a dangerous luxury. Sheehan’s writing perhaps reflects a certain detached intensity in his own psychological make-up. We don’t get the intellectual chill of Le Carré, or the bombastic, and literary graphic detailed of great adventure and conspiracy writers like Wilber Smith or Tom Clancy but we do nevertheless get plenty of sharp observation.
Sheehan is very fond of using real and, what in relative ignorance I choose to guess are, realistic but invented acronyms. I point this out only because they are perhaps at times, overused, this being a story rather than a State Department report. I can see how their abundant use was by way of adding to the matter of fact realism, but also just perhaps a few were unnecessary.
The upsurge of significant news currently emanating from the Korean Peninsula certainly adds to this work’s poignancy. I have no difficulty in giving this work the full five stars on those sites that demand those crude endorsements. However, in the edition I read there are a few annoying copy errors. I assume that these will be addressed if ever Sheehan finds a void in his agenda. The only thing I don’t comprehend is the relevance of the book’s title, though I can believe that it would be very pertinent to the spy novel with a clear seductress as its pivotal character.
The plot is exciting, with the traction to engage the reader despite the aforementioned economic writing style. We don’t have to be told how the blood drips, how the bullet distorts the flesh, how the cold creeps into ill-nourished bones to know, to see these terrors in the mind’s eye. Though this work is light on superfluous sentiment we are given a sufficiency of insight for us to generate our own details of character and those momentarily described scenes.
The directness of the writing is perhaps indicative of the work of a writer that has spent a working life at the sharp end of security and intelligence services, where long sentimental reflection is at best a dangerous luxury. Sheehan’s writing perhaps reflects a certain detached intensity in his own psychological make-up. We don’t get the intellectual chill of Le Carré, or the bombastic, and literary graphic detailed of great adventure and conspiracy writers like Wilber Smith or Tom Clancy but we do nevertheless get plenty of sharp observation.
Sheehan is very fond of using real and, what in relative ignorance I choose to guess are, realistic but invented acronyms. I point this out only because they are perhaps at times, overused, this being a story rather than a State Department report. I can see how their abundant use was by way of adding to the matter of fact realism, but also just perhaps a few were unnecessary.
The upsurge of significant news currently emanating from the Korean Peninsula certainly adds to this work’s poignancy. I have no difficulty in giving this work the full five stars on those sites that demand those crude endorsements. However, in the edition I read there are a few annoying copy errors. I assume that these will be addressed if ever Sheehan finds a void in his agenda. The only thing I don’t comprehend is the relevance of the book’s title, though I can believe that it would be very pertinent to the spy novel with a clear seductress as its pivotal character.
May 2, 2018
Brilliant, I loved it. Regis P. Sheehan has done a fabulous job with this clever Espionage Thriller. I quite enjoyed that the plot is split between Iraq and North Korea and takes us to other countries around the world. A great group of characters, and I like that I couldn’t guess what was going to happen from one moment to the next. Fantastic ending as well.
Saddam Hussein had certainly been an issue to the US for quite a while now. They knew that Saddam had chemical weapons, which were bad enough, however there were indications that he might already have, or be in the process of obtaining a nuclear weapon. America and the rest of the world didn’t need a mad man like Saddam with that sort of weapon in his arsenal. Now they really need to do something about him. Then of course there was North Korea to worry about, who had their own nuclear ambitions. So, when a couple of North Koreans indicated they wished to defect to the US, it became a top priority to help them out. One of the Koreans seeking asylum was in Italy, and the other in North Korea, and they were both be quite valuable to the US for their intelligence. It was going to be quite a challenge getting into North Korea undetected, and out again without being captured. Luckily JICSA had an amazing team of very capable operators they could send in. Bear and Chalice were two men that had the background and experience to pull off just about any operation. Without doubt this is an enjoyable book that I would certainly recommend. 5/5 Stars.
Saddam Hussein had certainly been an issue to the US for quite a while now. They knew that Saddam had chemical weapons, which were bad enough, however there were indications that he might already have, or be in the process of obtaining a nuclear weapon. America and the rest of the world didn’t need a mad man like Saddam with that sort of weapon in his arsenal. Now they really need to do something about him. Then of course there was North Korea to worry about, who had their own nuclear ambitions. So, when a couple of North Koreans indicated they wished to defect to the US, it became a top priority to help them out. One of the Koreans seeking asylum was in Italy, and the other in North Korea, and they were both be quite valuable to the US for their intelligence. It was going to be quite a challenge getting into North Korea undetected, and out again without being captured. Luckily JICSA had an amazing team of very capable operators they could send in. Bear and Chalice were two men that had the background and experience to pull off just about any operation. Without doubt this is an enjoyable book that I would certainly recommend. 5/5 Stars.
May 21, 2018
Thanks to the author and NetGalley for this book.
I labelled this book 'thriller' and 'non-fiction' because that is what it is. Although the extraction of a young scientist from North-Korea is fiction, the book is more non-fiction because of all the technical background and information the author gives the reader.
Therein lies the result of three stars instead of four or five. Although this background information is very interesting if you are keen to learn more about the hunt for Hussein and the awful things that are going on in North-Korea, it is a bit much, a bit too rich in details. On the other hand, there is the 'fiction' part, which is actually a good and interesting story and much easier to read - except for the great many names. People keep popping up, do or say something and disappear again, only we have to learn a lot about them that we don't need to be able to follow the rest of the story.
It is ok but it misses a good editorial hand to work on the unbalance between fact and fiction, between summing up facts and the 'show, don't tell' the readers need.
I labelled this book 'thriller' and 'non-fiction' because that is what it is. Although the extraction of a young scientist from North-Korea is fiction, the book is more non-fiction because of all the technical background and information the author gives the reader.
Therein lies the result of three stars instead of four or five. Although this background information is very interesting if you are keen to learn more about the hunt for Hussein and the awful things that are going on in North-Korea, it is a bit much, a bit too rich in details. On the other hand, there is the 'fiction' part, which is actually a good and interesting story and much easier to read - except for the great many names. People keep popping up, do or say something and disappear again, only we have to learn a lot about them that we don't need to be able to follow the rest of the story.
It is ok but it misses a good editorial hand to work on the unbalance between fact and fiction, between summing up facts and the 'show, don't tell' the readers need.
August 10, 2018
Title – Succubus
Author – Regis P. Sheehan
Genre – Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
53,700 Words
Rating 5 stars our of 5
Posted 8/10/2018
No. – 32 - 2018
My Impressions: 2003, NK border, international espionage, nuclear scientist extraction, good action
Main Characters:
Michael Paul Medved – Special Ops.
Bear – Special ops, working with Medved
Succubus is wide ranging with many legs. It has action in Italy, Iraq, China and North Korea. Many support characters pass through and disappear. Paul Medved and his partner Bear are the primary agents who set in motion the plan they are charged with.
The plot builds to the primary operation, the extraction of a nuclear scientist wanting to defect from North Korea. The three-person team involved directly in entering China and then North Korea provide the conflict and intensity that carries that part of the plot.
The editing and sentence structure are good, not perfect but good, and character development is excellent for the several main characters.
The plot is excellent and abundant details enhance the narrative.
I enjoyed this story and highly recommend it.
This review was provided in exchange for a free book.
Vigilant Reader Book Reviews.
Author – Regis P. Sheehan
Genre – Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
53,700 Words
Rating 5 stars our of 5
Posted 8/10/2018
No. – 32 - 2018
My Impressions: 2003, NK border, international espionage, nuclear scientist extraction, good action
Main Characters:
Michael Paul Medved – Special Ops.
Bear – Special ops, working with Medved
Succubus is wide ranging with many legs. It has action in Italy, Iraq, China and North Korea. Many support characters pass through and disappear. Paul Medved and his partner Bear are the primary agents who set in motion the plan they are charged with.
The plot builds to the primary operation, the extraction of a nuclear scientist wanting to defect from North Korea. The three-person team involved directly in entering China and then North Korea provide the conflict and intensity that carries that part of the plot.
The editing and sentence structure are good, not perfect but good, and character development is excellent for the several main characters.
The plot is excellent and abundant details enhance the narrative.
I enjoyed this story and highly recommend it.
This review was provided in exchange for a free book.
Vigilant Reader Book Reviews.
May 26, 2018
An international thriller works when real events are seamlessly woven into the fictional narrative. In Succubus, former diplomatic security service agent Regis P. Sheehan does that.
Michael Medved, code name ‘Bear’, is tasked by the Org to exfiltrate a nuclear scientist who wants to defect out of North Korea. He teams up with a mixed force of South Korean agents and other specialists from the Org for what is an almost impossible task. All of this takes place in the tense post-9/11 atmosphere and the invasion of Iraq which resulted in the toppling and subsequent execution of Saddam Hussein, the machinations of North Korean diplomats in the smuggling of ‘super notes,’ exquisitely-crafted counterfeit US one-hundred-dollar notes, and the cumbersome Washington bureaucracy.
Swiftly moving back and forth in time, and crossing two oceans, the story follows the team and its supporters as the dangerous mission unfolds.
A chilling story that reads like it was ripped from the day’s headlines, it is, in short, the kind of page-turner that international thriller fans will love. I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I give it four stars for a darned good story.
Michael Medved, code name ‘Bear’, is tasked by the Org to exfiltrate a nuclear scientist who wants to defect out of North Korea. He teams up with a mixed force of South Korean agents and other specialists from the Org for what is an almost impossible task. All of this takes place in the tense post-9/11 atmosphere and the invasion of Iraq which resulted in the toppling and subsequent execution of Saddam Hussein, the machinations of North Korean diplomats in the smuggling of ‘super notes,’ exquisitely-crafted counterfeit US one-hundred-dollar notes, and the cumbersome Washington bureaucracy.
Swiftly moving back and forth in time, and crossing two oceans, the story follows the team and its supporters as the dangerous mission unfolds.
A chilling story that reads like it was ripped from the day’s headlines, it is, in short, the kind of page-turner that international thriller fans will love. I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I give it four stars for a darned good story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews