In the Company of Killers

by Bryan Christy

In this intricate and propulsive thriller--from National Geographic's founder of Special Investigations--Tom Klay an investigative reporter leading a double life as a CIA spy, discovers that he has been weaponized in a global game of espionage pitting him against one of the world's most ruthless men.

Tom Klay is a celebrated investigative wildlife reporter for the esteemed magazine The Sovereign. But Klay is not just a journalist. His reporting is cover for an even more dangerous CIA agent. Klay's press credentials give him world-wide access, and the information he gathers is indispensable. But while on assignment in Kenya, Klay's closest friend is murdered and soon Klay's carefully constructed double life unravels as his ambition turns to revenge.

As a final mission, Klay is offered a devil's bargain to capture the man who killed his friend by infiltrating the offices of the woman he loves, South Africa's special prosecutor Hungry Khoza. As Klay investigates, he discovers that he and Hungry are part of a larger, more lethal puzzle--one that involves a ruthless global mercenary, China, and the Company. The deeper he digs, the more Klay realizes that everything he thought he knew about his work may have been a lie, and his sworn enemy may be his only ally. In this riveting, timely thriller, the lines between good and evil blur, and absolutely nothing is as it seems.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Espionage, Crime

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 13, 2021

About the author

Bryan Christy is an American author and an internationally renowned investigative journalist. He is the founder and former director of National Geographic's Special Investigations Unit and a National Geographic Society Rolex Explorer of the Year. Christy worked as a freelance writer and chief correspondent for National Geographic Magazine, an Explorer Series television host, a documentary filmmaker, speaker, and educator. In 2008, Christy published his non-fiction book "The Lizard King". In 2017, Christy left National Geographic to focus on his first novel, "In the Company of Killers" which releases to the public on April 13, 2021.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too convoluted. By the end, everyone was a bad guy except Tom Klay. Since the author worked for the National Geographic Society, I guess I was expecting more about that work and less about spy hugger mugger. For an investigative reporter, Klay seemed incredibly naive and trusting.

[Alma Katsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

IN THE COMPANY OF KILLERS is an inside look in the high-stakes world of nature media that will appeal to fans of classic international intrigue as well as those craving a more modern take on the geopolitical thriller. An adventure story for the thinking man.

[Yigal Zur · Rating 4 out of 5]

of course when i saw that the writer was investigator of the National Geographic magazine i approached willingly. to summerize: great first chapter, a journalist and a southern african tracker are trying to stop a killing of a hugh elephant. shooting. the tracker who is the best friend of the journalist is killed.
well, if all the book was like this chapter it could be...a ...but it is not. there is vast knowledge of the writer on international corruption but this is not enough to cover the problems. to many side stories, not enough force in some of the most dramatic episodes which are nice and good ones.
Klay the journalist is a interesting character, even being a famous journalist he is fucked from all sides, fucked background, fucked relationships. but sometimes he is not clear. his collaboration with the CIA....?
another problem his Klay relations with ex-lovers. after years of neglect they sleep with him the moment he appears...? achhhhh.
still. interesting

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tom Klay is an investigative journalist for a magazine called The Sovereign, which seems like a fictional version of National Geographic. However, Tom has been living a double life, also working as a CIA asset. On assignment in South Africa where elephants are still being poached for their ivory, Tom and his group come under the gun of a sniper. Tom's friend Bernard is killed and Tom is shot in the shoulder. Tom vows revenge against a terrorist named Botha who he believes is responsible for Bernard's death, but things are not as they seem. The deeper Tom gets into the politics of both his magazine and South Africa, the more he realizes that he knows nothing at all.

In the Company of Killers had a great deal of potential as a revenge tale or story of the little guy defeating the big guy, but instead it devolves into a plot filled with corruption where nobody ever really wins and the world as we know it is doomed. The book jumps from flashback to flash forward to foreshadowing so much that it is tough to identify the key players and the main story line. None of the characters are well developed, and at the same time, are unlikable. Overall, In the Company of Killers could have been an excellent romance, political thriller or action adventure, but ends up being a disappointing jumble, defying description.

[James Winchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but a lot of up and downs throughout the book. Some real good suspense and action and some bad transitions throughout the story. Not totally disappointed but could of been better.

[BookTrib.com]

In an intricate and propulsively exciting thriller that is full of surprises, Tom Klay will discover that everything he thought about this case — and the events of his own life — have not been what they seemed. The lines between good and evil have just been blurred, and in the end, it may be only his enemies that he will be able to trust. A little.

Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2021/03/26/wildl...

[Susan Tunis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. There was much to like about this debut espionage thriller. The Africa-centric plot was different. And I loved the use of a loosely fictionalized Nat Geo, an organization I know a thing or two about. The plot had the requisite twists, turns, and betrayals. But at the end of the day, I just didn't connect with or really care about the characters. Alas.

[Keith Swigert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to believe a protagonist who is portrayed throughout the book a smart, brave, and worldly could be so naive in the final section of the novel.

[Erika Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, and I had no idea that National Geographic had an investigative unit. I am guessing that The Sovereign is loosely based on National Geographic, and Bryan Christy's story was intriguing. It followed the formula of this genre--troubled protagonist with a heart to make a difference, difficult romantic relationships, taut mystery with lots of twists and turns. All good because the "formula" did not feel formulaic. There were enough differences to keep the story moving and engaging. What I didn't like was the last 1/3 of the book. It required too much suspension of disbelief with too many plot lines that did not tie up realistically. There is so much potential here, though, and I hope that there will be a book #2.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well developed world and main character, but plot was disjointed and oddly rushed. The premise of the character and the world is good but is largely jettisoned by the end of the book. Trying to be a mystery with a twist without being a good story. Lots of tell but no show - particularly with the “work” of the main character. Would have had more impact if it was the second or third book in the series instead of the first (?).

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the concept of this one - an international journalist is a perfect fit for a CIA operative. Once I got used to the slightly more abrupt chapter endings I started to get into the work. It was a bit complex and violent but overall I enjoyed it. The narrator was excellent and the ending was realistic and not drawn out.

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Klay, the hero of Bryan Christy’s new series, is a journalist who investigates crimes against endangered species for a NatGeo-like magazine, The Sovereign. He has written several stories about poachers in Kenya, where rhinos are killed for their horns. While on a trip there, he is attacked, and one of his sources who has become a close friend is killed. Klay suspects that Ras Botha, a former South African cop, is behind a poaching operation that is responsible for his death.

Shortly after the attack, the magazine’s publisher, Vance Eady, persuades Klay to join the CIA, using his work as a cover in order to find out more about Botha’s network, and potentially its connection to an international ring. Meanwhile, Eady agrees to sell The Sovereign to the Perseus Group, a security company that provides international paramilitary support to governments and private organizations. Are these two events connected? If so, who is Klay really working for? The revelation that Perseus’ owner, Terry Krieger, grew up in South Africa provokes suspicion.

Complicating Klay’s actions is his failed relationship with a South African prosecutor, Hungry Khoza, who is also investigating Botha. When he arrives in Pretoria with his colleague, David Trenchant, Klay rekindles their affair, only to find that she is engaged to one of the people whom his investigation is targeting. Then Trenchant himself comes under suspicion. Klay --- and the reader --- can’t decipher which side to root for, or indeed if there are any good guys at all.

Adding to the confusion are a number of plotlines and flashbacks that seem insignificant at one point, only to reappear later. Are the politicos who meet Krieger in the South China Sea working with the Africans, against the Americans, or both? Was the American operative who was murdered in Kenya working for the US, or for himself? Is Eady looking out for Klay, or using him?

Although much is resolved by the end of this twisty novel, what makes the journey noteworthy are the locales and locals to which we are introduced through the eyes of the world-weary Tom Klay. It will be interesting to see how he, and Christy, evolve throughout the course of the series.

Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spy thriller

Like the author, the main character, Tom Klay, is a journalist. Klay's focus is on international exposes, traveling to exotic places and embedding in the local population as he puts together his stories. The book opens with Klay at an African wildlife hunting enclave where a group of locals are hoping to catch elephant poachers red-handed. However, Klay's group is attacked by a sniper, who kills Klay's tracker friend and a visiting American politician. Klay himself escapes and returns to Washington DC, only to find his employer, the magazine Sovereign, has been bought out by the world's leading private military conglomerate. His departing boss gives him one last assignment to investigate the flow of illicitly collected elephant tusks through the Philippine port of Mindanao. But this assignment likewise ends in a bloodily. And so the narrative proceeds mainly driven by Klay's pursuit of seemingly unconnected events. Along the way, he gets to be involved with some shady CIA characters, the Chinese pursuit to control the South China Sea, a Russian arms dealer, and ... you get the idea. Eventually, one gets to see the relevance of the opening sequence, but its a long convoluted plot.

The book starts out with the good intention of giving the reader a bunch of twists but gets a bit too clever. The twists, especially at the end, start to have this surreal quality of being a different book from what it started out as. A typical question: If (Character A) knew all along that (Character B) was a (bad/good) guy, why did (Character A) do this with (Character B) earlier in the novel?

I found this engaging enough though with the exotic locales as seen from a journalist's POV. Would gladly read the author's next effort.

[Ned Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adventure/spy thriller of the first order. Protagonist Tom Klay has an Anthony Bourdain vibe evidenced by his reckless adventurism and his day job as an Investigative journalist. His dirty little secret is his covert role as a CIA agent being manipulated by multiple puppet masters. It’s an inherently schizophrenic combo that suits this trouble soul. Cristy can write and he imbues Klay with more depth, wisdom even, that the usual messed up spook. One gem is his technique for getting to the truth or at least closer to it by always asking “What is the opposite of this?" whenever confronted with a probable lie. Another bit is to realize there is always, most importantly, a "who" so don’t get bogged down in the what, where, when, or even why. I suppose these are sanity-preserving tactics in the blurry reality that is Klay’s world. Indeed the only definite in this novel or Klay’s world is that nothing is ever what it seems.

[Drw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out active and propulsive. And then is seemed like the author just wanted to fill space with the CIA sections just rambling around trying to too hard to show what a great spy the main character was.

I was sad that the main story of getting the bad guy got lost under so many unrelated side excursions - like the economics and politics of today's magazine publishing and how home improvement projects seem to take on lives of their own. In many ways this book seemed to be more about the "damage" that modern technology monopolies (oligarchies) are wreaking on society than about the search to get the murderer of Bernard.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Klay is an investigative journalist for "The Sovereign", a magazine resembling "National Geographic". But Klay’s occupation is deep cover for a clandestine position as a CIA asset. Klay and his best friend, Captain Bernard Lolosoli, are deep in the Kenyan bush country, following a lead they received about elephant poachers, but they have been set up for an ambush. Klay survives, Lolosoli does not. Klay is sure he knows the identity of the killer, and he means to exact revenge for his friend’s murder. A finely written novel about justice, personal responsibility, and saving the environment--one of the best 1st novels I've read in 2021.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Klay's work as an investigative journalist takes him around the world and gets him into contact with a lot of interesting people - which comes in quite handy for his second job as a CIA asset.
This is a quite clever set-up for a spy thriller I haven't come across before, and Christy spins an intriguing tale in his debut novel that turns out to be a lot more complex than it first seems. The story takes its time to get going, but it's worth sticking with until it does.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine a B-movie, with a third-tier action hero, who chases down bad guys all over the world, in exotic locations, and trouble seems to follow him everywhere yet he manages to stay alive, just because the writer says so. That is what this book is. The plot is incoherent, the character development non-existent, and there is too much exposition (which is fine if this were a magazine feature, but it's a novel so it's just annoying).

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of trouble reading this book. Seemed like everybody was a bad guy. Never knew who to trust. I didn’t know anything about the author and didn’t read about him until I finished the book. If I had, I might have better understood the perspective of the book. In retrospect, I might have had different preconceived ideas about the story. While interesting, this book isn’t for everybody, least of all me.

[Bruin Mccon]

DNF at 9%. I think this is probably a decent book but I could hardly follow the first chapter. A lot of characters. Klay is the main character, a nature journalist. I know from the book summary it is a cover for his real career as a CIA spy. I like the set up but the first chapter did not pull me in as I would have expected so I’m just going to leave this on the shelf for now. Maybe will come back to it.

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, I just couldn't finish this book. The protagonist, Tom Klay, is an insufferable blowhard, who figures the whole world revolves around him. And this is supposed to be a good guy! He is called even worse in the book and all I can do is nod my head in agreement. There were weird visits to different places in the world and generally, just not that interesting. Too many books in too little time for me to go back to this dofus.

[Scott Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok change up from all the Lee Child / Jack Reacher books I've been reading. I honestly had a bit of trouble reading this, though, due to the way the author wrote the interactions between characters. It was frequently difficult to understand who was saying what and/or what exactly they were talking about. I would give another book by Christy a try, but if it's in the same style, I'd probably put it down and move on to something else.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine. It started off decently but it's one of those thriller spy novels that continues to up the stakes into ridiculous levels of conspiracy that sure may be true but I don't wanna read about it. The MC is fine, one of those most-interesting-men-in-the-world types with a chip on his shoulder. I came for an environmental crimes journalism thriller and it ended up being something else. Disappointing

[John Rumery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a five star book but it exceeded my expectations. Interesting story. Flawed protagonist. Nice revenge arc. It made me feel like an insider with the political sausage making of the CIA and the current media environment. Plus a thin veiled critique of Eric Prince and the private sector military complex

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intelligent but slow-paced and a little difficult to follow (which, I suppose, is characteristic of the genre).

Several proof-reading errors were distracting, the most egregious of which was a paragraph in which the word "bombers" transmogrified two sentences later into "boomers".

[Paulambkh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy this story. It was not fluid for me, too many shifts in focus. Too many bad people, even the ones you thought were excellent. And the few good people get murdered. Just when I thought I was off to the real crux of the writing, it just continued on its meandering way.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially intrigued by the unique twist on the classic spy/thriller novel, but this book tried to tackle too many concepts. By the end the narrative collapsed under the weight of so many attempted points and it came out feeling half baked, saying little about a lot of contemporary issues

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK...I hated the parts that involved killing animals, although I know that poaching exists and is a real threat to wildlife. The concept was good but the book was written a little too disjointed for me. Good ending, I feel a sequel coming but don’t think I’ll read it.

[Leane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appeal to fans of Frederick Forsyth, Alex Berenson, and Chris Pavone--journalist caught up by the CIA good plot detail; excellent frame for Africa & Asian locales as well as DC. Spycraft works as does journalism; good twists; CH was not easy to like but Au builds his case for empathy

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not great. The reporter/investigator/CIA part of the story and the African settings were interesting, but the villain was just too over-the-top. Not a believable character; more like a Bond villain with world domination as his goal.