The 4th novel in the Red Cell grouping by Mark Henshaw, 'The Last Man in Tehran', is a decent thriller but uneven in its plot. Realistic action, good tradecraft, and taut dialogue is too often followed by sequences that just don't pass the smell test, at least to me.

Last Man.... starts off with a 'bang', as terrorists explode a 'dirty bomb' in an Israeli port city. It has all the hallmarks of an Iranian attack, so Israel's Mossad begins to run its playbook of assassinations and broader acts of retribution. Concurrently, a mole within the CIA begins to pass information to the Israelis about previously unknown players in Iran's nuclear program. Iran predictably denies responsibility for the dirty bomb and uncharacteristically tries to pass back-channel messages to the Israelis and its allies about its non-involvement. The Red Cell team begins to investigate the mole issue alongside a hard charging FBI agent and is also engaged in an attempt to stop a major war caused by escalating Mossad actions. The end result at a high level is fine, but getting there involved a few acts that I don't think are very realistic. I'll leave it at that.

Henshaw's writing is fine and his real strength in describing tradecraft and the inner workings of government intelligence and law enforcement agencies shines through. As with his previous novel in this series, though, he too often strays into activities and story lines that seem to be implausible. Last Man... is still a very readable and enjoyable novel, but some of the action is just a bit too far out there for me. ( )