Fesperman can always be counted on for a solid, fast-moving, well-developed story. In this case, a seasoned if somewhat independent-minded spy is assigned to play the role of the wife of an academic who has written a scholarly book that has scandalized fundamentalist Muslims and delighted people who don't like Muslims. She is meant to provide protection as he speaks at a conference of Near Eastern scholars and to the press in Germany. Things, of course, go wrong and characters turn out to be not quite who they seem. The time frame for the story is the late 1990s, just as Al Qaeda is preparing a world-shaking attack on the Western world.

In addition to being a good yarn, full of switchbacks and surprises, it's a nicely-drawn portrait of an intelligence community that has all the resources it needs but is too busy with infighting and lack of cultural competence to carry out their work successfully. There's also a cameo appearance of a character from Safe Houses.

I think The Prison of Guantanamo was the first time I discovered Fesperman. He continues to write smart and fast-moving books that avoid glamorizing espionage while thrusting readers into the midst of a well-resourced but flawed world of competing intelligence operations.