The American (Ryan Kealey, #1) in SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group

Jul 27, 2013 Samuel rated it really liked it

WALKING INTO HELL.

"We aren't walking in the dark. We are the dark."- CIA S.A.D officer Kara Stanton, CBS Person Of Interest

Andrew Britton is a dead spy thriller writer. Born in England, moved to the USA, served in the military and then started his writing career. He managed to do 5 books before his untimely passing in his mid-20's. Which is a shame. Specializing in the counter-terrorist sub-genre of spy fiction, his work focused on a badass CIA killer by the name of Ryan Kealey. Any other day i WALKING INTO HELL.

"We aren't walking in the dark. We are the dark."- CIA S.A.D officer Kara Stanton, CBS Person Of Interest

Andrew Britton is a dead spy thriller writer. Born in England, moved to the USA, served in the military and then started his writing career. He managed to do 5 books before his untimely passing in his mid-20's. Which is a shame. Specializing in the counter-terrorist sub-genre of spy fiction, his work focused on a badass CIA killer by the name of Ryan Kealey. Any other day it would be considered a Mitch Rapp knock-off.
But in fact, the Ryan Kealey series is a ruthless deconstruction of the first generation of counter-terrorist thrillers which have happy endings, subverting quite a few of the usual expectations and conventions that go with it. The series is a tragedy, about a Paramilitary Officer descending into his own hell on earth as he suffers defeats from every victory, sees his dreams shattered, his ideals throughly ground underfoot by the profession he's in and is forced to experience continuous torture by his so-called friends who drag him back to work even when it's clear that he's more in need of a straight-jacket and soft padded room rather than a flight to an exotic location with a Beretta 92FS in his hand luggage. The first book in the series titled "The American" is the first circle of hell Kealey walks through, involving a simple but surprisingly audacious terrorist attack planned by a anti-American contract-employee of Al Quaeda. Now to the review. What happens when a teacher tries to kill his top student who has gone so horribly wrong?

The novel starts with a killing in Washington DC. A politician who is the main proponent of economic sanctions on Iran as punishment for their nuclear program is assasinated by a man who, using a stolen rocket launcher, turns his motorcade into slag. He then gets away, killing two USSS agents who try to pursue him in a nightmarish manner. We then cut to Ryan Kealey, former CIA Special Activities Division officer turned bored colleage professor who is asked by his former superior at Langley to consult on the manhunt for the assassin. He is assigned to work with a analyst named Naomi. Almost immediately, they start things off on a bad note. He saves her from being flattened by an exploding building the assassin demolished to cover his escape from America and is rewarded with ungratefulness. She tries to look into his background and nearly gets skewered by Kealey for her trouble. As the investigation continues however, the sexual tension between them rises and Kealey is forced to balance working with her and keeping his relationship with the woman he wants to marry afloat. Meanwhile, the assassin, having escaped to Iran, pays several visits to the leading terrorists in the area, offering a very appealing business opportunity for some of the world's top Islamic extremists. Having received contributors to his scheme, he begins preparations to carry out a terrorist incident aimed at decapitating three Western governments in one stroke. The only problem? His mentor, Ryan Kealey who is busy hunting him down and finding out the horrifying truth about a man he never truly knew.

In terms of plot, The American is a solid enough affair. Standard counter-terrorist thriller structure applies, it doesn't try to introduce any innovations but that's not the point of this book, or where the fun comes from. For the settings, apart from the USA and Iran, we also have the mountain's of central Asia and a particularly bloody business trip Kealey and his analyst colleague make to South Africa. For a counter-terrorist thriller, surprisingly enough, this has the pacing of one of Tom Clancy's geopolitical epics despite being several hundred pages shorter. One of the reasons for this is the research. The difference between Flynn and Britton is that Flynn was willing to take a broad strokes approach with the majority of the technical stuff. Britton however didn't bother to strike a balance, not that it's a bad thing as some of the technical details make the narrative even more impressive. From the usual tactics, procedures and kit readers have come to expect in the genre, Mr Britton chillingly delves into bomb making and its intricacies. The terrorist incident centers around a very big bang, but one which depends on specific environmental factors to be pulled off. Said attack may be simple on the surface, but once you read the book, you'll be impressed/horrified at how much thought the author put into his fictional incident to make it plausible.

Now, characters. Let's begin with Ryan Kealey, whom brings the "deconstruction" aspect to the novel. Former US Army Special Forces soldier. Highly decorated in combat. Moved to the CIA Special Activities Division. Became their best paramilitary officer. Known for going off the reservation and doing what is right, orders be damned. Seems like the all-American wonder boy leading a charmed life of going around killing the scumbags who threaten his country like Mitch Rapp right? Wrong, as you'll find out. It doesn't become apparent initially in this book (but in later ones it will), but Kealey is basically what Mitch Rapp would be if he didn't have the teflon political protection, was discontent with his life and come to the realization that he will never quit, no matter how hard he tries, and no matter how far he runs away. His actions when he goes off the reservation? They have serious consequences which he and his allies actually suffer dearly. Kealey is also a man who is discontent with the killing he's had to do and yet longs for the thrills of the hunt and serving his country which civilian life will never give him. This gives him something Rapp never had, a fatal flaw which leads to his damnation. His faliure to reconcile this contradiction unlike Rapp, who in Consent To Kill decisively made his decision, and the delusion he has that he can have his cake and eat it as well lead to the beginning of his psychological deterioration near the end.
Secondly, we have Mr Jason March, the antagonist. While Kealey is more fascinating, Jason March is a lot more fun. He may be a textbook sadistic sociopath but he's a smart sadistic sociopath who is rocking a Frederick Forsyth Jackal vibe throughout the story. A smooth operator who manages to stay miles ahead of his enemies, he elegantly waltzes around the efforts to stop him despite a critical mistake allowing Kealey to home in on him, and in the end, manages to snatch a triumph over the head of the main protagonist.
Finally, we have John Harper, Ryan Kealey's former superior at Langley. He's a subtle deconstruction of the "supportive beuracrat" character prominent in most modern spy fiction. Like Kealey's deconstruction of Mitch Rapp, it only becomes more apparent in the later books, but the man is one heck of a good spy who knows how to cultivate an asset like his former subordinate, string him along and reaquire him for use by the Agency.

Now, while all is said and done, there are quite a few things about this novel which I dislike immensley. Some are understandable for a first book. Mr Britton doesn't integrate the technical details into the story as well as Mr Flynn, and thus the pacing is affected at times (he gets better with the later ones). There's also quite a bit of padding due to certain parts devoted to character interaction. But my main problem is with the female characters. Naomi, Kealey's analyst partner is quite unpleasent, but she's nothing compared to Kealey's fiancee. Petty, jealous, insecure and managing to hit every single aspect on the "hysterical shrew" template, she managed to burn away an entire star from the rating single handedly. She is however, important to the plot, and acts as a decent catalyst for the character arc her boyfriend will take in the next three novels.

So my verdict on "The American"? Well, indifferent I suppose. It's the series as a whole which is the fascinating deconstruction of the Mitch Rapp side of the counter-terrorism genre, not this book itself. Despite the few standouts managing to dominate the book, and not to mention the impressive/unnerving attention paid to the technical details around bomb making, the pacing does not excite which is the requirement for any book in the genre, there are other books out there which are far more interesting (like the sequels) such as Brad Taylor's Logan/Cahill saga, and don't get me started about the female characters. However, a series must start somewhere, and the next books take the stuff set down here and create what is essentially the anti-Mitch Rapp counter terrorist series.
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