The Black Widow

My mom had picked up this one on sale at BJ's a few years back, read it in a day as part of a larger procrastination effort, and dutifully passed it off to her book-loving daughter as a “pretty good book.” It has since been sitting on my shelf, waiting for just the right plane ride. A quick business trip arose and I nabbed the book for my carry-on. And I must agree with Mom; it is a pretty good book, and as far as spy novels go (I've read admittedly few), pretty damn entertaining. I wouldn't say the characters or plot or writing knocked my socks off; in fact, the characters seemed a bit cliche for the genre, as did the “hero-saved-in-the-knick-of-time-but-the-bad-guy-still-makes-it-away-so-there-can-be-a-sequel” plot... and the romantic sub-plot felt half-hearted and obligatory, at best; but all that said, it was a page-turning experience and I learned a whole lot about radical Islam and the cultural/religious context for the wars in the Middle East. I'd definitely recommend it as a quick, fun read!