Lying *is* the job description.

I don’t often read thrillers, but I always enjoy David Ignatius’ writing, so I picked this one up at the suggestion of Mr. Luxury.

Here’s the summary: There’s a new super-duper-secret CIA unit that is trying to buy peace with America’s enemies, specifically those in Pakistan. Young, intrepid Sophie Marx joins this super-secret unit because it gives her the chance to do spy things instead of just sit in an office in Virginia. Soon, unfortunately, their super-undercover operatives start showing up dead, and Sophie is tasked with figuring out who is killing them and why. She follows the clues where they lead, but when she starts pulling threads, the whole quilt starts unraveling.

This is a good book. Ignatius is a tight writer, so it is a fast, compelling read. There’s enough real-life CIA knowledge, not to mention regional knowledge, to make it believable, but it’s not heavy.  The characters are well-developed and interesting, for the most part, and their motivations were believable. There were a few parts where I felt like Ignatius skimmed over characterization in more minor characters, and a few parts where our spies figured things out a bit too quickly, and an ending that was a bit too neat…but those are minor quibbles.  Overall, a very good book to spend a Saturday afternoon with.