When a two-thousand-dollar a night Atlantic City prostitute begins to blackmail her frequent client, whom she calls Jag, he is enraged. An ambitious presidential hopeful, Jag leaves her bleeding to death in her swanky hotel suite and calls in well-placed markers to make sure the crime never comes to light. Alas things don't work out as planned. An enterprising disbarred lawyer discovers the crime and demands millions of dollars in cash from Jag to keep it quiet and destroy the evidence. Jag finds a way to tap the CIA database and trades some of the U.S.'s most potentially damaging secrets to raise the money to pay the lawyer, which is used to buy bomb-ready uranium secured in a former Soviet nuclear research facility. The alerted U.S. president pulls protagonist Cam Warfield from the counterterrorism training center he operates to track it down, alienating the turf-conscious FBI chief who resorts to sabotaging Warfield's efforts at the expense of the nation's security. When Warfield ultimately finds the uranium it is in the form of a nuclear bomb having potential for destruction greater than 9/11 and destined for Los Angeles in the belly of a Japanese 747 passenger airliner piloted by a madman harboring long-nurtured hatred from the Hiroshima bombing. When this crisis is narrowly averted it is only the beginning of the story: Warfield suspects that it was Jag who started it all. But Jag, who is now the CIA director, deploys his vast resources to throw Warfield off his trail—and then to try to destroy him.
Direct Reviewer Quotations
Following are direct quotations from ‘To Free A Spy’ reviews on the Amazon website. All comments from reviewers who know the author/whom the author knows have been omitted.
Direct Reviewer Quotations
“The story started off fast, gripping you.”
“This is only the second review I've written of over 50 that I would want to give more than 5 stars.....it really is that good.”
“…will make a good movie!”
“I cannot describe how thoroughly it captured me…”
“This is not a book, it is 4. From Russia, thru Turkey to Iran is one book, Atlantic City is book 2, Japan is book 3, and Washington DC ties everything together brilliantly.”
“This is his first book? Amazing! Such talent!”
“Nick Ganaway has written a great first novel!”
“…character development is well articulated.”
“…did not want to put this book down.”
“Hard to believe this is a first book!”
“The usual suspects: CIA, FBI, terrorists, spies etc are all there.”
“May possibly be my favorite spy book in four or five years.”
“…an absolute joy to read!”
“If you love edge of your seat, roller coaster thrill rides, this is the book for you.”
“To Free a Spy rocks at the opening!”
“…great research revealed through the words of his well-rounded characters.”
“I especially enjoyed the ending, which I won't reveal!”
“…the author did a great deal of research to write this novel.”
“…the story gets an electric jump start on the first 25 pages…”
“…can't believe this is the first book by this author. It couldn't have been done better by any of the top guys in this genre.”
“This book brought home the question of what happens when countries no longer can handle nuclear weapons or the scientists who have worked on and developed them—.”
“This is spread over several years. Plenty of time to develop characters.”
“I have read many suspense type novels and this is one of the very best.”
“Ganaway has the potential to compete with Thor, DeSilva [sic], DeMille...........”
From Publishers Weekly Review of 'To Free a Spy'...
Fans of high-octane Tom Clancy–esque thrillers will most enjoy Ganaway’s fast-paced first novel...(BookLife)
