CIA spymaster pens India-Pakistan thriller

[Gabbar]

CIA spymaster pens India-Pakistan thriller​

CIA spymaster pens India-Pakistan thriller
7 May 2009, 0034 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN


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WASHINGTON: A suitcase nuclear bomb that’s about to go off at the inauguration of a dam in India, a secular Pakistani spy who is trying to stop this Duane Evans' novel had a stealth release earlier this week. A Hollywood or Bollywood thriller next?
jihadi-driven plot, and a smoldering Indian heroine who has stolen his heart. That’s the bare but torrid outline of a new spy thriller written by a former CIA station chief who has served extensively in the Indian sub-continent.

Duane Evans’ ''North From Calcutta'' had a stealth release earlier this week with rave endorsements by fellow ex-spymasters, and it shouldn’t be long before Hollywood or Bollywood comes calling, given the amount of interest in the region lately amid Pakistan’s descent into chaos. For Evans, it is the culmination of more than a decade of service and interest in and around the region, starting in the mid-1990s until his retirement from the CIA in 2007.

''I first got the idea to write the book in the mid 90's. I was fascinated by South Asia and wanted to write about it, mostly to illuminate the region and its peoples and issues to the American reading public,'' Evans told this paper in an e-mail exchange earlier this week while traveling in Germany.

The book, he said, is ''entirely fiction in terms of characters, events, and dialogue'' but is set in real countries (although he has invented a town called Crowe's Bazar). He also uses the names of real organizations, the Intelligence Bureau (both for Pakistan and India) and RAW as well and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, for instance.

According to his publicists, North From Calcutta is an ''action-packed, non-stop tale of espionage and intrigue told from the unique perspective of a westernized Pakistani intelligence officer.'' The story climaxes with an attempted attack by terrorists on a dam in India using a portable backpack nuclear device during a dedication ceremony attended by hundreds of important government officials and international VIP’s.

While North From Calcutta is set mostly in India and Pakistan, the interwoven plot themes take readers to Washington DC, London, Abu Dhabi, and Dhaka. Evans says the story line not only unveils the mindset and methodologies of an intelligence officer but also ''reveals the attitudes, thought processes, and activities of Islamic extremists who are caught up in the religious and geo-political struggle between Pakistan and India over Kashmir.''

Evans is cagey about his own stint in the region, especially the precise years of his postings (most CIA agents operate under cover), except to say he served in the 1990s. According to his publicists, Evans retired from the CIA after operational tours on four continents, including duty as Chief of Station, which is the CIA’s most senior field position.

''Due to restrictions which are placed on me because of my former CIA employment status... I cannot provide any details regarding my assignments beyond saying that I have served in the region for several years,'' Evans said in the e-mail message. The novel itself had to go through a formal mandatory internal review by the CIA to ensure it did not contain any classified information, he said.

Evans said in his message that he took classes in writing and was ''also prepared for writing the story from my career experiences as the job requires an awful lot of writing, similar in many ways to that of a journalist.'' But his background suggests plenty of field action. He is the recipient of the Intelligence Star for valor, and before joining the CIA, he was a U.S. Army Special Forces officer == more Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne than John Le Carre's George Smiley.

While the book is yet to be reviewed formally -- his publicists have mailed a copy to this correspondent that is yet to land -- Evans has got endorsements from ex-spymasters pals Cofer Black, the former chief of the CIA’s Counter-terrorism Cell (CTC), and Gary Schroen, who served as the CIA station chief in Kabul and Islamabad, among others.

Black, who was instrumental in the capture of Carlos the Jackal (celebrated in Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal) was also the CIA’s Task Force Chief for South Asia when India (and later Pakistan) conducted nuclear tests that caught Washington napping. North From Calcutta, says Black, is ''a great tale of today’s espionage and terror'' and is both ''what it’s like'' and ''what it could be.''

 

[khanz]

ahh typical let me guess the nuclear device will be pakistani aswell as the terrorists trying to blow up this indian dam sounds typical ISI and pakistan will be shown as a extremist country be the villains ,indians the good guys/ victims and banglesh will be shown as a backward slum country coz thats what it it sounds like from the website .

quotes about the book

Taken from what could be tomorrow's headlines, the author takes us deep into the underside of Pakistan's intelligence services, where nationalism clashes with Islamic fundamentalism, as radical elements plot against India-with nuclear war hanging in the balance. Plot twists, well developed characters, settings that bring you the feel and smell of South Asia, this is a page-turning, exciting ride."

" In a gripping story ripped from today’s headlines, a web of murder, intrigue and deceit stretches from the palaces of Pakistan to the slums of Bangladesh, from the villas of India to the power corridors of Washington, D.C., building inexorably to an explosive and unexpected climax, while one man races to avert a nuclear catastrophe – and save the woman he loves."
-V.J. Banis

 

[Nemesis]

Actually, the "hero" of the novel is a Pakistani spy.

 

[khanz]

Actually, the "hero" of the novel is a Pakistani spy.

despite this i can tell it's gonna villify and stereotype pakistan the villains are also pakistanis and the heroine is indian aswell as the victims. I'm sure the only reason the hero is pakistani so it's not blatantly one sided and anti-pakistan.
Reading this article before i didn't even know anything about the book I knew it'd involve the bad guys being pakistani and plotting to destroy india and after checking out the plot of the book from it's website i was absolutely right

 

[Nemesis]

Do you actually care about such substandard literature? The only spy novelist worth anything is Forsyth, and he lost his touch a long time ago.