The Mulberry Bush

by Charles McCarry

A novel of international espionage and personal vengeance from the author Lee Child called “better than John Le Carré.”
 
Many years ago, a young American spy crossed the wrong people and found himself on the wrong side of Headquarters. He soon fell into a slow, shameful decline of poverty and self-destruction. But Headquarters didn’t count on him having a son.
 
Now, years later, the boy is an American spy himself, serving two masters: Headquarters and his own insatiable need for revenge. Sent to Argentina to infiltrate a revolutionary group with deep ties to Russia, the young man finds himself dangerously drawn to his target’s daughter. Yet, despite the passion between them, he refuses to lose sight of his ultimate goal: destroying the institution that ruined his father all those years ago.
 
“Set in a post–9/11 world, [but] satisfyingly steeped in undercover tales of a particular vintage” (The Washington Post), Mulberry Bush is an intricate and sexy espionage thriller from one of the most acclaimed writers in the game.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Thriller, Spy Thriller, Historical Fiction, Mystery Thriller

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

McCarry served in the United States Army, where he was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, was a small-town newspaperman, and was a speechwriter in the Eisenhower administration. From 1958 to 1967 he worked for the CIA, under deep cover in Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, his cover was not as a writer or journalist.

McCarry was editor-at-large for National Geographic and contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other national publications.

McCarry was best known for a series of books concerning the life of super spy Paul Christopher. Born in Germany before WWII to a German mother and an American father, Christopher joins the CIA after the war and becomes one of its most effective spies. After launching an unauthorized investigation of the Kennedy assassination, Christopher becomes a pariah to the agency and a hunted man. Eventually, he spends ten years in a Chinese prison before being released and embarking on a solution to the mystery that has haunted him his entire life: the fate of his mother, who disappeared at the beginning of WWII. The books are notable for their historical detail and depiction of spycraft, as well as their careful and extensive examination of Christopher's relationship with his family, friends, wives, and lovers.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary...'exciting' and at times 'juicy' storytelling. This is my first time reading Charles McCarry. He can be darn funny, too! I laughed sooo hard at one little part --I had to call my husband over. (don't worry --I'll post a 'funny' --be patient)

Given that this is a political story about an American Spy -- I had a little fear that I might not have enough testosterone to appreciate it. WOW...I had 'nothing' to worry about!

GIRLS....You are missing out --if you pass on this 'incredible exploration' into the world of danger... very seductive and exhilarating reading!

Our American Spy, (the narrator has no name in this novel), who speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and three major Persian languages spoken in Iran and Afghanistan -- had just come back from living in the middle east for 5 years. His job was to hunt down terrorists -capture them and kill them -or have them killed.
The headquarters he works for had him return to America (just in time before he got himself killed). They wanted him to take a month vacation.
He wants to get back to work --go to another country --maybe Russia (he is great at languages --and can learn quickly). He doesn't want to waste time on a vacation because he has a secret mission of his own: 'revenge' against the establishment, for laughing his father out years ago.

However, he listened to what Amzi Strange had to say:
"You've got five years worth of unused vacation time and money in the bank, and considering what you've been up to, you've gotta recharge the battery, so why don't you take some time off? Two months say."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"To get away from it all."
"I've been away from it all for five years."
"So?"
"I'm tired of being alone."
"You don't have to be alone. Take a woman along."
"I don't know a woman."
"Find one when you get to where you are going. You can hire a goodlooking hooker in the prime of life anywhere in the world for maybe three hundred a pop, so if you get laid every other day, sixty days would cost you ten grand max."
"It was hard not to be amused by this brute."
"I said, "That's not a low estimate?"
"Double it. It's still the price of two months of marriage with five times as much sex, more variety, and a lot less stress."

Tell me you aren't laughing???

However ---no vacation was taken!
Back to work...
He meets Luz Aguliar (the love of his life) in Buenos Aires. She also grew up much like he did. (around her father's terrorists friends). Her father was the legendary Alejandro Aguilar -martyr of the revolution.
The love affair --sex affair -between the two of them becomes politically entangled --(to say the least). I had no idea how this novel would end -and I sure wasn't even looking for a surprise twist.
If you think this review is long --I haven't even scratched the surface. Its a remarkable talent taking a dark subject (government agencies- -military intelligence, secret societies, treason, assassins, etc.)....and having it feel personal.
The reading was easy flowing and enjoyable.
I enjoyed many of the daily normal ways of living for a Spy: -- going to coffee houses, running --take walks in the woods discussing business, fine dinning, playing tennis, swimming in the ocean, passionate-lustful sex, breakfast at home, authors mention that the spy liked to read, poetry the he would recite to himself on nights he couldn't sleep.

Why is this book called "The Mulberry Bush", which spans 3 continents stretching back to the cold war? My friend tells me --maybe its from SONG... "Here We go around the Mulberry Bush".... around and around...

GREAT READ!!!! EPIC.....Filled with dramatic episodes and unique characters!

[Emmett Hoops · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book with high hopes, having read a glowing review. One reviewer compared it to the best of John LeCarre! Sorry to say, but this was one tedious tome.

McCarry writes in a very workmanlike prose. Nothing flowery nor poetic here: just the facts, mam. Peppered with a lot of sexual wishful thinking. (Why is it we so rarely have spies who have little weenies and no sex drive?)

You won't get to any sense of mystery nor intrigue until well into the second third of this book, and even then, it's strictly picayune.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this powerfully written espionage thriller. This book took me back to the days when I devoured John le Carre and Robert Ludlum and waited impatiently for their next book. It was clever, exciting, suspenseful and sometimes heart-stopping. It was Cold War spycraft without the Cold War and it was never derivative of any other work in its genre.

I was glued to each page and hated to put the book down even for bathroom breaks or meals (which I am seldom too involved to miss). Mr. McCarry makes the world of fast-paced, over-the-top spying and plotting very real. Trying to determine who is doing what to whom and why is all encompassing and you do not ever want to miss a word because you might miss a clue to what is real and what is contrived in this world of lies and assumed identities.

Hats off to Charles McCarry! Big thank you to Mr. McCarry, Grove Atlantic and Goodreads GiveAways for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

[carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m quite hesitant to write a review on this book because i feel that it’s going to be unfair towards the author lol. i was going in with high hopes when i started reading ‘the mulberry bush’ and while i initially found the prologue and early chapters intriguing, the book eventually turned into a huge bore for me.

i really enjoyed the interactions between the main character and a handful of the minor characters but it was a shame how so many characters were introduced and yet, more than half of them were barely developed. the writing was rather dull and i swear i could not get through more than two chapters without dozing off. hence, as you can see why it took me more than a week to just finish this book alone.

i’m conflicted in terms of the ending. i’m not sure if this counts as a spoiler but if you do not want to come across any potential plot points, do not read the rest of this paragraph and the next. right, so to speak, the reader is left hanging with many questions after the final sentence of the book and these type of ‘unresolved’, ‘ambiguous’, ‘makes-you-think’ endings either work really well or badly depending on how it’s done. in this case, it was quite a bummer how everything got resolved and explained in the last 2 chapters. like what’s the rush???? and the reader is also left with major questions which, in this case, is also not... great. for me, my main question is: what happened to luz????

the reason why this question ticks me off is because the very first paragraph of the summary of this book is literally: ‘In a rose garden in a Buenos Aires, a young American spy meets the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary. They fall in love. But he is no ordinary spy- and she is no ordinary woman.’ i’m not sure about you but when i first read this summary, i envisioned this thrilling, sexy (lololol) spy meets romeo and juliet novel where two people from opposing backgrounds fall in love but have to kill each other, blablabla. you get the gist. AND so, to have the relationship between luz and our dear protagonist end in such a vague manner without any clarification or focus in the end was so upsetting?????????? just why??????

this is so disappointing to say but once i got past the 40-60% mark, i ended up skimming through the rest of the book without really paying much attention. i had to finish the book but i just couldn’t bring myself to focus on it ughsjdjdhdhd. this is just really sad stuff because 1) there’s lots of potential and it could have been much better or maybe idk, i’m also disappointed that it didn’t really fit in my expectations of the novel and 2) why are my 2021 books so bad rip. so far, at least half of the books i’ve read this year were mediocre at best, averaging about three stars.

my year in books this year is going to be so bad lol, i can feel it already

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first McCarry novel was a fun change of pace, really enjoyed the character depth and what came across to me as the author’s overall sophistication.
🕵️‍♂️
Although I’ll move on to one of the several series I’m reading or starting, this is an author I wouldn’t hesitate to revisit. Recommended for fans of spy/espionage.

[Craig Pittman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles McCarry is one of the best spy novelists around and has been since he left the CIA in the '70s to become a writer. I am particularly fond of a couple of his novels, "Tears of Autumn" and "The Secret Lovers," which are packed with vivid characters, stunning scenes, dense plotting and exemplary tradecraft. So this one was a disappointment.

The plot starts off well, with a nameless narrator working for a CIA-like organization referred to only as "Headquarters" meeting an asset in Buenos Aires. The asset is Luz Aguilar, who will become the love of the narrator's life and his partner in a revenge plot against the agency for what it did to his late father, who was also a spy. They look at each other and they both think, "Possibilities."

The narrator then spins the wheel backward to recount his father's downfall, which led not only to professional disgrace but also to unemployment, divorce and homelessness. Small wonder, then, the narrator vows to get back at the agency that did this to his old man by undermining it from within, a process that he acknowledges may take years.

We never learn what his revenge plan is, though, because he gets sidetracked by his love affair with Luz, who is herself the offspring of a couple who were betrayed by Headquarters and thus has her own reasons for wanting vengeance -- and then the story becomes more about Luz and her parents and the South American revolutionaries who surrounded them, rather than what the narrator had in mind.

So while we do get some remarkable scenes -- particularly one in the Mideast where the narrator comes within inches of dying, and another involving a possible Russian defector and a rocket launcher -- there's no coherence to the plot. The narrator gets medals from the agency, then gets yelled at by his boss, and we are never sure which is part of the revenge plot and which just happened, period.

The tradecraft here has been slightly updated from McCarry's earlier works. The spies still worry about dangles, use sign and countersign codes, send postcards setting up meetings -- but now they exchange flash drives instead of Xeroxed documents or Minox camera shots. It made me wonder if that's really how things work these days, or if technology hasn't made some of these old techniques obsolete.

Even more disappointing is the lack of character development. One of the Russian characters is a walking cliche' repository -- his name is Boris, he's rude, he plays chess, he always has to be the dominant one etc. Perhaps the biggest letdown is Luz. She's introduced in the book's opening as if she's the fulcrum upon which the whole book will balance, and then McCarry apparently doesn't know quite what to do with her besides make her a near nymphomaniac and catalog her orgasms.

The final scene of the book is a corker, I must admit, illustrating the epigraph that starts the book in a very literal fashion. But once it was done I thought, "Is that it?" I never felt that way about any other McCarry book. So go read those other, better ones, and give this one a miss.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book begins with an interesting premise. The unnamed narrator, a gifted linguist, son of a disgraced intelligence officer, makes a plan to ruin the agency in revenge for its treatment of his father. The father had organized a sting operation which embarrassed his superiors, was fired, stripped of his benefits and died a homeless vagrant.

The key to the revenge plot involves Russian agents and double agents and multiple levels of betrayal which become exceedingly confusing after about page 125. Our hero meets the love of his life, the voluptuous daughter of two martyred leftist revolutionaries, in Buenos Aires. At that point the book starts to go off the rails unless you have an endless appetite for nonstop, multiple orgasm shagging sessions and multicultural, multigenerational treachery.

I quit reading about 75 pages from the end. It was too much work to keep the betrayals straight and the characters had grown less interesting with each chapter.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well written spy/revenge novel with a surprise ending! Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the digital ARC

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than many of the previous posts would indicate. They must belong to frustrated spy novelists.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy of this book! Another excellent character-driven story by McCarry, similar in style I found to LeCarre's novels or more for a more contemporary example, Olen Steinhauer (especially his latest, "All the Old Knives"). Definitely recommend to anyone looking for a slow burn revenge story, however, if spy thrilling action is what you're looking for this is not your book. I also would highly recommend "Sweet Tooth" by Ian McEwan, and vice a versa, to anyone who enjoyed this.

[Paul Bartusiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mulberry Bush demonstrates that Mr. McCarry is still at the peak of his writing skills!

Another great espionage novel by the master.

[Elite Group · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retribution for Dear Old Dad


Our unnamed protagonist is on a dual mission. He’s an American spy for HQ (Headquarters) which is code for the CIA. On the one hand, he’s very good at his job. On the other, he’s willing to patiently wait years to exact revenge for his father who had been humiliated, railroaded out of the HQ, out of his benefits, and into homelessness years earlier. He finds an unlikely ally in the form of Luz Aguilar, daughter of an Argentinean revolutionary from Buenos Aires, who also holds a grudge against the HQ.


Charles McCarry was a former CIA operative and so he has an in-depth knowledge of the process. He has been feeding credible spy novels to his fans since the 1970s. The protagonist’s relationship with Luz is described as love but seems to be much more about the sexual atmosphere between them. Fortunately, the novel is more about the story line and the narrator’s revenge than about their sexual exploits. The protagonist lacks a name while the remaining characters lack a bit of development, especially within the midsection of the novel.


The action is adequate carrying over into a very satisfying ending for the reader. Rating: 3 out of 5.

Fictionzeal.

Breakaway Reviewers were given a copy of the book to review

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel centered around espionage and revenge. Towards the beginning of the book, the protagonist says something about there being a lot of down time in the spy business and it wasn't like the movies. No kidding. This was the slowest moving "spy thriller" I've ever read. I don't even know if I could truly call it a thriller since that gives the notion that there is a lot of exciting action and suspense. There were moments, but the action seemed downplayed and was often summarized. If you like your thrillers to be a bit more intellectual and less action oriented, then this may be for you. It just wasn't really for me.

[Ashlee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so difficult to get through.
It's so dumb. I don't think there's even a description of the the main character. Though, somehow he attracts a beautiful, intelligent, sex-panther of a woman. Yeah right.
There were several characters introduced but they were so minor or boring I quickly forgot them.
McCarry works lots of sex into the story but it seemed so pointless. Other than pointing out the sex, I guess. I rolled my eyes several times.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you interested in being entertained/confused? As in "here we go 'round The Mulberry Bush"--this aptly named thriller keeps one interested from the start. I think McCarry is a master of the thriller/espionage novel.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

McCarry is one of my favorite spy novelists, in fact, he is one of my favorite novelists, period(his Lucky Bastard is one of my all time favorites). This book does not disappoint -- sexy, extremely literate, humorous at points, and without doubt a real, inside look at spy craft. Recommended

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of boring, had to struggle to finish. Didn't like the characters, & the plot at times was downright silly. I have not enjoyed this authors writings since his Paul Christopher books, which were among the best espionage novels ever written. To me, another disappointment.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know he gets good reviews. I could not finish . Got more than half-way through and got bored. I liked the beginning.

[Ottawan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A spy story, confusing plot, incredible characters, poorly written.

[David Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was too long. It finished very suddenly which I found to be a welcome surprise.

[Jack Fortune · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a spy novel as revenge thriller, and it moves quickly, is fairly involving and well written. And it works better as a straightforward story of personal vengeance because it fails to say anything interesting about spies, who they work for, or what drives them.

At the centre of the book is a romantic relationship so libidinous that it tips over into parody, with the novel's unnamed protagonist constantly describing how his Argentinean lover cannot help but fling herself on him during every waking moment. It quickly tips over from James Bond into Austin Powers. Perhaps the problem is that the author simply cannot write a plausible female character, and therefore depict a relationship. The portrait of the protagonist's mother is equally, though differently, two dimensional.

The protagonist himself is a master of languages, fluent in many middle eastern tongues as well as Russian and Spanish. Yet he evinces no interest whatsoever in their associated cultures. The book is written in the first person throughout, so there is no opportunity for the author to broaden our field of vision, or use any of the narrative tricks that Le Carre uses so skilfully to allow his spy novels to illuminate the personal and the political. What politics there is here is a kind of complacent American parochialism. But it is not the politics that grate, it is the lack of curiosity about other views of the world, even when one abhors them.

Perhaps the comparison to Le Carre is unfair, but it is invited by some of McCarry's supporters and publicity, so there it is.

[False · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of his more current works, if not "the" most current. I've been reading all of McCarry's work: fiction and non-fiction. Probably have about a fourth to go. The writing has become so much more masterful in this book, and that was already in place from book one. His books are civilized, savage, romantic, sensual, brutal, cynical, poetic....they encompass so much. To say this book is about a lone wolf agent who falls in love with a woman with a troubled political past is a gross injustice to what the book is really saying. He writes with an appreciation and knowledge of women, of priests, of the bullshit in bureaucracy (anywhere, really.) His endings usually have a punch.

"it was over. I had my revenge. All I had to do now was live with it. They say that the dead know everything, so maybe Father was having the last laugh in some afterworld for souls consigned to an eternity of mirth. If so, he laughed alone, but he was used to that. In time, I supposed, I would get used to it, too."

[Fooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first McCarry book. I was pleasantly surprised. McCarry's experience as a journalist (which I assume was his his cover when he served in the Clandestine Service) really comes through in his writing. This is a page-turner. Folks who have trouble with the lack of ornate language or thin characterization might be missing the point. This is a story about moral ambiguity and deception told by a character who is a pawn in someone else's game, and is very likely an unreliable narrator in the bargain. The book has a driving plot that reveals new surprises, emotional textures, and layers of depth at every turn. There were a few errors in the Spanish which could easily be corrected with a little more careful editorial review. Beyond that, I loved it. I'd stack this up against an average LeCarré any day. Maybe not the Karla/Smiley universe stories, but it's certainly better than a lot of the more recent stuff.

[Hugh Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

can't recall how I got onto McCarry --- a reference in another author's book --- but I'm very glad I did. This is a spy's spy book and a telling look into the psychology of the players.

a work of romance, art and philosophy along with the requisite sex and action. A mystery of sorts as well as a tribute to deep and lasting love among the rich and powerful.

language comes into play as in the best of spy novels and the characters emerge fully fleshed out by an author who knows how to engage you in the narrative while yet describing the scene and players.

not actually flawless as I was a bit disappointed in the end game pacing but that's a small criticism in an otherwise welcome experience. I'm going to follow up.

[KevinS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent story with a terrible ending. Very believable details, nice handling of tension and suspense, very well written. Except the ending. There is a terrible resolution of all the plot lines, the tension, the mystery, the plot. Rather than our spy figuring it all out, after he's been so uber-competent for 300 pages, he's forced to listen to a lengthy, illogical hearsay story that resolves everything. By all means read this book but when the final act opens and resolution is at hand, put it down. You don't need to know. Whatever story you built in your head for where this would go is an improvement over the last 5% of this book.

[Hans Ostrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of revenge that manages to mix procedural spying, insider politics, absurd humor, and real pathos. Like Me Carre and Furst, McCarry is a smart writer.

"Espionage is not religion or politics, whose appeal derives from the contradiction of reality. In theory, at least, it is the enemy of moral certitude, the defender of proof. Proof is always just beyond reach, but it is useful to know as much as it is possible to know". . . . "You know Terhune?" "Not really. " "Good man, but only his dog can hear him."

[John Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've held on to this for three years, to provide a reading treat when I felt it was warranted. Just as much a classic McCarry as ever, despite what some reviews have said, but in the end I found the story rather unsatisfactory. I do understand that in the part of the world he sets this book in, I have little awareness, so the styles and people are a bit alien, so maybe that's all it is.

[Lorraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too confusing, with the layers of turncoat and spies. The protagonist starts off as a intelligent maverick who is going to pull a fast one on the Bureau but spends the rest of the book as a pawn relating messgaes. Oh, and having crazy wild sex with his wife ALL THE TIME. Right. And not at all relevant.

[Brian Eyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Whoever said McCarry writes like Le Carre hasn’t read much Le Carre. The plot is better than the quality of writing. Character development is shallow and locations outside of DC feel like the author looked the spots up on Google Maps or a Wikipedia article. Meh. And the sex is stupidly excessive. Are all his books like this?

[Heep · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started well enough, but lost traction as the protagonist falls in love. The romance is laughable - essentially as believable and compelling as a high schooler's boasts of sexual conquest. The spy story descends into farce at the midway point - the revenge motive is contrived and cannot carry the story. I had to stop as it was feeling stupid. Two stars is probably too generous.