The John Wells series never gets old. One reason is that author Alex Berenson seems able to predict with laser accuracy what is going to happen the week (or thereabouts) that his new book will be released to the public, unsuspecting and otherwise. This is no small trick, given that, due to publishing timeframes, his final manuscript has to be submitted months before the actual publication. There is also the manner in which Berenson tends to compose his almost real-world characters, taking a bit of this and a little of that.

So just when you think that the newly elected president of the United States in THE PRISONER is...well, I’ll let you read and guess...Berenson tosses in a pebble (one concerning lunch, no less) that totally throws you off. Then there is his dead-on trade craft and war stories, which will convince you that (almost) everything that occurs in this novel (and its predecessors) has actually or may have taken place. You don’t have to suspend disbelief at all; instead, you find yourself putting belief at bay.

"Berenson is a marvel, purely and simply. I have no idea how he does what he does, but I won’t lose sleep so long as he keeps doing it."

THE PRISONER somewhat appropriately circles back to Wells’ origins as a CIA deep cover operative who converted to Islam and penetrated deeper into al Qaeda’s inner circle than anyone else. The reason for his return to this form is a frightening one. An Islamic state prisoner, being held in an off-the-books facility in Bulgaria, has been overheard hinting that an officer at the top of the CIA has been passing intelligence off to ISIS. This information, if true, would be disastrous on several levels.

Wells and Ellis Shafer, his crusty, sharp-elbowed handler at the CIA, concoct an insane but effective scheme to have Wells, adopting the manner and persona of a veteran al Qaeda operative, captured and imprisoned in the same facility, in order to get close to the Islamic state inmate and hopefully get further information. It’s a ploy (sometimes used in jails and holding cells to obtain an admission of guilt from suspected criminals) on steroids, and it is hair-raising, to say the least. Berenson takes a good third of THE PRISONER and more to get Wells into the facility while developing a second plotline, which slowly and frighteningly reveals the construction of a two-stage terror attack aimed at the West.

Meanwhile, Shafer, back in Washington, begins his own off-the-books --- and, to some extent, authorized --- investigation into whether a traitor in the ranks truly exists and, if so, who it is. The reader learns the “who” just a bit before Shafer, while Berenson reveals the many interlocking parts of the terrorist attack in dribs and drabs while presenting a grim triptych of parts of the world that no one in their right mind would ever want to visit, with a possible exception or two. It is all paced perfectly, even when it seems, near the conclusion, that Berenson is about to run out of book before Wells, with a little help from friends new and old, attempts to stop the attack. Berenson does not, incredibly enough. And as for Wells? Read THE PRISONER and reach your own conclusion.

Berenson is a marvel, purely and simply. I have no idea how he does what he does, but I won’t lose sleep so long as he keeps doing it. I didn’t want THE PRISONER to end because a year is a long time to wait for the next John Wells book. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve read the series; if you haven’t, spoil yourself and get started.