This was a great book for a road trip listen! The action kept me alert and guessing until the end. This was one of the better spy thrillers I've listened too, I just wish there had been some romance to complement the action.

Great story. Thanks #netgallery for this read. Kept my attention and kept me guessing right until the end.

The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman is a book that took me back to my senior year of high school. The year is 1999, and CIA agent Claire Saylor is sent on an undercover assignment to act as the dowdy wife of a stuffy academic. But, the deeper she gets in, the more she realizes that there's more than she initially thought to this assignment.

With this story, we also get the concurrent storyline of Mahmoud Yassin, a recent Moroccan émigré who falls in with group of radicals at his local Mosque. But, things may not be as they seem.

With the year being what it is, the events of these storylines come together in a dynamic fashion, but not until the very end of the book, which is when the action picks up.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts were my own.

The Rundown: After a blown up and a dialiance with her boss, CThe Rundown: After a blown up and a dalliance with her boss, CIA agent Claire Saylor is back in the game. She’s going undercover to protect a professor from radical religious terrorists.

Written by Dan Fesperman, published 2021

We have 3 plot lines running here in this story. Our first is Claire Saylor, a CIA agent who was involved in a failed operation that tarnished her reputation. It also put the breaks on whatever relationship she was having with her boss Paul Bridger. But now, she’s been assigned to act as the wife of Professor Winston Armitage. The professor has written a controversial book that claims that Muslim martyrs will not be given 72 virgins, but 72 raisins. This enrages the radial Muslim cells that were prevalent around 1999 when the book is set. While “the professor” and Claire are under the impression that he is on a book tour to promote his book, sponsored by a think tank, it turns out that it is a ploy to draw out the radial Muslims associated with Al Queda. I’ll use quotes around the professor because the dorky Mr. Armitage isn’t all he seems. But I won’t spoil that surprise for you.

Our second plotline revolves around Mahmoud Yassin, a recent immigrant, who is trying to prove himself to the group of men, in his new mosque. The group leader, Amir, gives him tasks to prove himself, including dropping off a getaway car and getting rid of Esme, the troublesome wife of one of his brothers. Trouble is, Mahmoud seems a little too drawn to the alluring Esme. She represents the life he left behind, and the temptations he must resist.

Our last POV is from Ken Donlan of the FBI, who is also in Germany to keep an eye on Mahmoud and the men he’s associated with. Agent Donlan almost blows the whole operation when he takes a picture of the group of men, which then gets back to the FBI and CIA, and jeopardizes a whole other mission that Claire knows nothing about.

The photo turns out to be the crux of the matter, and when certain facts finally came to light, I yelled out “I KNEW IT!” as I was listening to the book. These events lead to Claire, once again, defying her superiors and going rogue to save a fellow agent.

I’m going to give this book a solid 3 stars. Maybe 3.5 if pushed. And here’s why. I thought this was going to be a romantic thriller. It isn’t. It’s a thriller for sure, but no romance. It’s the perfect setup, a disgraced CIA agent forced to share a bed with a dorknozzle professor who is all too eager, considering he’s married. Anf Mahmoud and his infatuation with Esme. But then, the violence starts and all thoughts of romance are gone. The book has very Tom Clancy vibes, mixing fact and fiction to create a story that culminated in the terror attack on the twin towers on 9/11. But even though it’s a thriller, the book dragged a bit for me. The action really picked up in the last 1/4 of the book, but I wish that it had persisted through the whole book.

Final thoughts- Other reviewers seemed to like this book a whole lot more than I did. So give it a chance for yourself.

Claire’s last secret op (in #Beirut) was a bust. Now, the Agency is shipping her off to Hamburg, on “#security” detail for an American author’s much anticipated #book release. The book’s premise is that the where people now believe the #Quran promises 12 virgins to those who sacrifice their lives for Allah, this author claims the translation is actually 12 raisins. A claim sure to infuriate many … Claire was to pose as the author’s wife. In addition, her boss, Bridger, added some extra reconnaissance for her to cover … which Claire suspected, (and hoped), would prove more exciting than posing as the cover wife.

This was my first time reading (and listening to) a Dan Fesperman novel. That being said, I had no trouble getting into this tale of international espionage, and, staying with it, right to the end. I do not want to give away any spoilers. This is definitely a great read … for the beach … or literally, for anytime, anywhere.

Thank you #netgalley and @knopfdoubleday for the digital book and @dreamscape_media for the #audiobook, which is perfectly narrated by the author, #danfesperman.

#5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #thecoverwife

I love, love, love spy thrillers, even though I would be a terrible spy. Thank you to Dreamscape Media for my ALC of The Cover Wife, a book about the adventures of Claire, a much better spy than I could hope to be. Happy belated pub day - this book was published July 6th!

The Cover Wife follows Claire into 1999 in Hamburg, where she poses as the wife of an academic peddling a new Koranic translation. She ends up falling into another, much more important operation. As Claire seeks to learn the truth, she follows Moroccan Muslim Mahmoud as he gains access to an al Qaeda terrorist cell. Can Claire discover the cell's secrets?

I really enjoyed the multiple storylines in this book - getting Claire and Mahmoud's perspectives really filled out the story. Dan Fesperman has created a complex plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. The story is dramatized from real events, which made it feel even more devastating to hear. Fesperman is a great narrator - the only downside of having a single narrator for the multiple perspectives was that it was easy to get confused as to who was narrating, Claire or Mahmoud. But I enjoyed his voice and intonation - he clearly has a talent for narration as well as for writing. I recommend this one if you like thrillers by Tom Clancy, Daniel Silva and the like!

Let me preface this review by saying that I typically never read a synopsis of a book before reading. I go solely off of cover and title to decide if I’m going to read something. That being said, this one was a slow burn for me. I enjoyed listening to the audio book but there were a few storylines with a lot of different characters and it was hard to keep track at times. All that to say, at the end when I learned that the cell they were following was the 9/11 cell, I was SHOOK. I’m actually glad that I didn’t know that prior to reading as it changed the entire book for me - being able to listen to the story without the knowledge of what was actually going to happen made this book less of a dud and more of a stud! From what the author said in the acknowledgements it’s a mix of fiction and non-fiction and overall a great read!

I like Dan Fesperman because I like traditional, old-school feeling spy novels - and that is usually what he writes. Or at least what I usually read of his. This one felt like half domestic thriller drama and half spy book - and unfortunately there was an overemphasis on the first of those descriptors, which is where the book lost me.

Fesperman does a great job writing characters and espionage / international incident novels. He also does a fine job writing a more relationship-focused story, I just don't enjoy them as much. There was nothing wrong with this one - it just wasn't what I wanted it to be. Had I gone in not knowing his work, and looking forward to another full-blown spy story, I probably would have given it a much higher rating. As it is I had to net at 3 because it was a bit of a slog for me in a handful of places.

Kudos to him on doing his own reading though, as he's a fantastic audio book narrator! His narration was literally the reason I was able to keep going... I found him to offer just the right blend of emphasis and more straightforward narration, in a way that I thought brought the characters to life and kept the story as interesting as possible.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Very captivating with amazing character development. A mysterious weaving of working as a undercover agent. To be Honest at times I was a little lost at how many different stories were going on however the author did an amazing job of wrapping it all up and bringing it all together to something that really resonated close to home. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This CIA thriller has a Tom Clancy vibe. The story takes place in 1999 and gives a behind the scenes look at the Muslim radicals behind the 9/11 terrorist attack. While the story is fictional, it's based on many facts discovered about the members of Al-Qaeda who carried out the deadly attacks. While the story was interesting for the historical components, the characters and plot itself were stiff and undeveloped. I wanted to finish, but wasn't captivated.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to the book. I absolutely loved the narrators voice. I will definitely look for other books by the author.

When Claire Saylor is called to Hamburg in 1999 to be bodyguard/undercover wife of a controversial academic fallen foul of Muslim radicals, she finds herself embroiled in multiple missions with intelligence groups and even personnel within the same group entangled with interagency politics. Everyone one seems to be working at cross purposes, and even as those converge, Claire has to go outside of channels to find vital information. A simple low budget conference babysitting gig has bodies piling up, yet backup from the CIA is apparently pulled. Not only are more lives endangered, but Claire has suspicions that the radicals have major plans. The plot is believable, characters well motivated, and setting well integrated. Instead of selecting a female reader for the book written mostly in Claire's viewpoint, the author narrates this book himself. Not a problem, as Fesperman has a pleasing voice and smooth reading style that moves things right along in this fast paced listen.

This audiobook was great. The narrator's voice certainly suited the premise of the story.
A young CIA agen, Claire, poses as a wife to a stuffy professor who has researched, wrote and published a very controversial book on the Quran. Needless to say, this is radical and threats to his life pour in.
She partners with CIA agent Paul, and the two of them employ unorthodox methods to protect their charge, and foil a plot. Storyline is wonderfully new and keeps your attention.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley for an unpaid, honest reivew.

What a great listen! I enjoy a good political thriller book and a The Cover Wife was just that!
A gripping and compelling book, from the first page to its chilling conclusion,
This book will grab you from the very beginning.
The characters I absolutely loved. The writing was beyond brilliant!
The narrating was on point!
I just really enjoyed this book

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Author for this audio book!