Picked by Simon Sebag Montefiori as one of Best Books of 2018 in the Evening Standard. "Great espionage novels are not genre pieces but studies of betrayal, dishonour, expediency, loyalty -- the darkness of human nature, the subjects of all literature. Unsurprisingly, it's hard to find good ones but I just finished Beside the Syrian Sea by James Wolff, a debut by an ex-spy, is superb: an adventure from London to Lebanon and Syria and the desperate struggle for survival in the face of war and betrayal. Wolff is a new maestro."
RADIO TIMES James Naughtie: "Having confessed my addiction to crime, I should also admit that a good spy story will always have me hooked. Beside the Syrian Sea, by James Wolff. His name is a pseudonym, for reasons that most readers will guess is connected to his job, because this is an account of a hostage-taking in the Middle East and the efforts of a renegade MI5 officer to rescue his father, and it trembles with realistic detail. I know we'll hear more of him."
BOOK OF THE MONTH
TIMES "That James Wolff is a pseudonym should come as no surprise to the reader of
Beside the Syrian Sea, his superb debut. The writer has obviously been somewhere or something in the spy business. His flawed spy hero, Jonas Worth, is out of his depth when confronted with news that his aged father has been kidnapped by Islamic State and will be soon executed if a large ransom is not paid. Worth, a lonely figure, muddles away, stealing some top-secret documents that he tries to use to bargain with Isis. Much happens along the way."
"This important book...brought home the complex and shifting situation in the Middle East and the danger of looking for simple explanations. I loved Jonas - the quiet man pushed by his own guilt into becoming a hero."-- Ann Cleeves, author of the Vera Stanhope series.
"Great characters, convincing detail and a compelling story. All too human MI6 desk jockey, Jonas, is no James Bond but he manages to stay one step ahead of his ex-employers, the CIA, Hezbollah, Isis and the reader right up until the final showdown in the desert."--Charlie Higson, author of The Young Bond series
"James Wolff clearly knows in detail the complex and murky world of Middle Eastern intrigue. An intelligent, exciting and wholly convincing novel". --Piers Paul Read, author of Alive and The Misogynist.
"A gripping tale of plots and counterplots; of militias, spies, and priests; of love of family and loyalty to cause." --Emma Sky, author of The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq.
