A Hostile State

March 24, 2014
Magson (Execution and four other Harry Tate thrillers) introduces freelance shadow operative Marc Portman in this action-filled adventure pitting Portman against seemingly insuperable odds in various foreign hot spots. Portman’s daring, improvised rescue of an American engineer in Colombia and his escape from a deadly trap in Tijuana bring him to the attention of Thomas Vale, an officer in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. Vale is concerned about Operations Director Colin Moresby’s reckless plan to send inexperienced SIS officer Angela Pryce, with just one other agent, to the Somalia-Kenya border to negotiate a hostage release with clan chief Yusuf Musa. Trying to avert disaster, he secretly hires Portman to shadow the pair. Vale’s fears prove well-founded, and Portman must overcome overwhelming odds to save the agents. He makes for a convincingly formidable one-man army, and Magson handles the action scenes with panache, in this enjoyably straightforward yarn that is likely to lead to sequels. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary Agency.

March 1, 2021
A compromised CIA agent makes a dangerous trek west while his stateside handler searches for answers. In Lebanon, CIA deep cover specialist Marc Portman barely escapes an attack by an unsteady sniper. Acting quickly, Portman, who narrates his chapters in a gritty first-person, skillfully takes out his would-be Russian assassin and is rewarded by finding a picture of himself on the corpse. At that point, the tale embarks on a round-the-world circuit from Beirut to Moscow, where Konstantin Basalayev expresses frustration at the failed mission, to Langley, Virginia, where Portman's CIA handler, Brian Callahan, expresses frustration that he's the only one concerned with Portman's safety. Portman's rescue in Lebanon has come from a most unlikely source: middle-aged British operative Isobel Hunt, formerly with MI6, now an independent contractor with Her Majesty's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Just as she scoops up Portman and drives him to a safe house in a hijacked jeep, the maverick Isobel also hijacks and galvanizes Magson's conventional plot and familiar characters. And Magson knows it: He credits "the real Isobel Hunt" in his acknowledgements. Sadly, after getting Portman safely to Cyprus, Isobel exits the story. In her place, Portman connects with CIA agent Lindsay Citera, but a key question nags Callahan: Who's the CIA mole endangering Portman's life? Writing with a crisp authority that's both familiar and involving, Magson builds tension steadily. This author of three action series should consider a spinoff for the singular Ms. Hunt. A solid cat-and-mouse thriller with a refreshing breakout character.

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April 15, 2021
Fans of Magson's Marc Portman series know they can count on pulse-pounding action and plenty of surprising twists, and Magson delivers both in his latest, with Portman targeted for ""termination"" by a mysterious hit squad. Portman can usually stay several steps ahead of any opponent, but his latest adversaries seem to anticipate his next move even before he makes it. He and his CIA boss figure the hit squad must be getting inside information and fear there's a mole at the CIA. But who put the mole in place? Who ordered the contract on Portman? And can Portman and his boss get to the bottom of things before the assassins are successful? A secret plot approved at the top levels of the Russian government, a link to the higher echelons of Washington society, payback, and political maneuvering all figure in the diabolically clever plot, which delivers Magson's signature breakneck pace, adding a dash of romance, and further establishing Portman as an action hero who's hard to resist.

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