Join Spybrary Spy Book Podcast host Shane Whaley, author Paul Vidich and Spybrarian David Craggs as we unpack Paul Vidich's latest spy thriller 'Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy.' Beirut Station is a novel pulsating with emotional depth and geopolitical intrigue.
Set amidst the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli conflict in Beirut, Lebanon, the story follows the precarious journey of a Lebanese-American protagonist entangled with the UN, CIA, and Mossad in a mission to eliminate a terrorist threat. Special guest Paul Vidich returns for a third appearance on Spybrary , offering listeners a rare glimpse into his creative process and the inspiration drawn from historical events and legendary spies like Kim Philby. This episode brims with lively discussions on Vidich's adept portrayal of Annalise a robust female spy lead character who navigates the moral complexities of her clandestine world. We discuss the seamless blending of fact and fiction and Paul Vidich's layered approach to character development. Beirut Station reminding us once again that heroes and villains in spy novels, much like in real life, occupy grey areas of morality. Join us for this enthralling conversation and then connect with your fellow espionage aficionados in our online community to share your thoughts on Paul Vidich's Beirut Station.
So what is Beirut Station By Paul Vidich all about, Shane?
A stunning new espionage novel by a master of the genre, Beirut Station follows a young female CIA officer whose mission to assassinate a high-level, Hezbollah terrorist reveals a dark truth that puts her life at risk.
Lebanon, 2006.
The Israel-Hezbollah war is tearing Beirut apart: bombs are raining down, residents are scrambling to evacuate, and the country is on the brink of chaos.
In the midst of this turmoil, the CIA and Mossad are targeting a reclusive Hezbollah terrorist, Najib Qassem. Najib is believed to be planning the assassination of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is coming to Beirut in ten days to broker a cease-fire. The spy agencies are running out of time to eliminate the threat.
They turn to a young Lebanese-American CIA agent. Analise comes up with the perfect plan: she has befriended Qassem's grandson as his English tutor, and will use this friendship to locate the terrorist and take him out. As the plan is put into action, though, Analise begins to suspect that Mossad has a motive of its own: exploiting the war’s chaos to eliminate a generation of Lebanese political leaders.
She alerts the agency but their response is for her to drop it. Analise is now the target and there is no one she can trust: not the CIA, not Mossad, and not the Lebanese government. And the one person she might have to trust—a reporter for the New York Times—might not be who he says he is…
A tightly-wound international thriller, Beirut Station is Paul Vidich's best novel to date.