It's been a long 12 months waiting for TWELVE DAYS. The title of Alex Berenson’s new John Wells novel refers to the ticking clock that Berenson set at the conclusion of 2014’s THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT, a tale that had his unusual and somewhat unlikely protagonist attempting to stop an attack by Iran upon the United States that was much more, and much different, than I had anticipated. I would strongly suggest that you read it before sinking your teeth into TWELVE DAYS, as 1) the books flow almost seamlessly together, and 2) it's almost impossible for me to describe what occurs in this latest installment without revealing what occurred in its predecessor, a terrific thriller in its own right.

Are you feeling me? Great. If you've already read THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT, you may proceed; if not, please do so and come back when you're ready. You don’t even have to knock.

"What Berenson gives us is a thing of rough and dirty beauty, from in-the-room views of Russian prisons to a cockpit seat aboard a manned drone...and an up-close-and-personal look at the execution and aftermath from both ends, to a bloody vignette in a safe house that turns out not to be so safe at all, at least for some."

Back so soon? Terrific. TWELVE DAYS picks up almost immediately where THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT left off. Note the “almost.” It begins with a birds’-eye view of the receiving end of a terrorist attack that will make you think twice before you ever crawl aboard an airplane again, or at least wonder if what Berenson has described is possible (the answer is “yes”). A note here: the world that he presents is very much our world, with some of the fine lines drawn in squiggles, but ours nonetheless. Even if you don’t quite agree with Berenson’s subtle presentation of his worldview, he plays fair when he's doing so that it’s hard to totally like or dislike any of the characters who jostle for position with Wells, a former CIA agent who continues to be drawn back into the game because of and in spite of himself.

That holds true for Wells, who, as he watches the replay of the attack, reveals that he has failed in his original mission (as presented in THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT) and that the world stands on the brink of war. The President of the United States has drawn a line in the sand, giving Iran 12 days to open its nuclear facilities for inspection or face destruction. Iran’s response was a terrorist attack. The impetus behind the presidential threat is all-but-irrefutable evidence that Iran has a nuclear bomb and is going to use it. The problem, as Wells knows, is that it isn’t so. Rather, the so-called evidence is part of a “false-flag” operation engineered by a billionaire casino operator who wants the US to destroy Iran before it gets close to such capability.

As I read over my own words, that sounds far-fetched, but it’s not in Berenson’s capable hands. TWELVE DAYS counts down from, well, 12 days to one day as Wells, assisted to varying degrees by two of his former CIA bosses, crisscrosses the world while pulling in favors from unlikely sources as he attempts to gather evidence of what is really occurring in the hope that he can present it to the President before it’s too late. What Berenson gives us is a thing of rough and dirty beauty --- from in-the-room views of Russian prisons to a cockpit seat aboard a manned drone (note to self: I must get me one of those) and an up-close-and-personal look at the execution and aftermath from both ends, to a bloody vignette in a safe house that turns out not to be so safe at all, at least for some. The only conclusion one can draw after reading the book (or, for that matter, any of the eight preceding volumes in the series) is that all espionage thrillers should be this good.

TWELVE DAYS wraps things up neither nicely nor neatly, but it does wrap things up. By “things,” of course, I mean the plot lines that saw life in THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT; there are enough new issues generated by the conclusion to keep Wells busy for at least a few more novels. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is a series that you should --- must --- be reading, even if you don’t care for spy novels.