Miraflores

this was a great read, it had what I was looking for in a spy novel. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the way the author writes.

"Miraflores" is a novel with many parts. It is a love story, it is a complex conspiracy story, it is an adventure in an exotic setting that is not too far from our own present day world. But most important it is a well done story with some very well delineated characters caught in a period of great stress.
Nick Haliday is a young man looking to start his career with the problem of a father holding a high level position in the U.S. State Department and looking for Nick to join him there. Nick is reluctant to do so due to his suspicion that his father was somehow complicate in the suicide death of his mother. He somehow literally blunders into getting a job with the than fledgling CIA and stumbles into a position that sends him to Panama. The time of the novel is the period prior to the United States ceding the Panama Canal back to the people of Panama. The Canal Zone was an enclave existing side by side with Panama city. It was literally a slice of the American midwest built to house the staff and their families of the workers running the Canal. It was the target of a great deal of resentment by the Panamanians working at the Canal for one third of the salaries that Americans earned for the same job.
Nick is picked for a post in Panama just as he is finishing his training. He is to assume the position of a professor of English at the University of Panama His mandate is to search out dissidents among his students who are Panamanians that might be involved in plots against the U.S. and report them to his superiors at the agency. He assumes his position and two things happen; first he meets a young lady that he falls in love with and second, he arrives at the realization that the people of Panama do have a legitimate gripe against the attitude of the U.S.
Mr. Yokum tells his story in a concise manner painting a perfect picture of the mixture of various complex ideas during a tumultuous period in U.S. Latin American relations. An all-night draw and a description of what is a relatively near term, but alien world.

What a nice find Miraflores is. The novel about an idealistic young CIA agent on his first tour of duty rings true. Author Keith Yocum paces the tale nicely and populates it with interesting characters. Nick and Maria are the leads, and this could have been a tricky combination, but the author knew what he was doing. Events grew as did my interest, and I did feel a little sad to say good-bye to my favorite characters. We know that government work can be ugly, but Yocum manages to shine light into the darkness. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

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Miraflores: Memories of a Young Spy by Keith Yocum is a historical fiction book following a young man’s first CIA assignment in Panama. Mr. Yocum is a seasoned writer and journalist.

Nick Halliday, a young college graduate, joins the newly established Central Intelligence Agency to fight against communism, as well as getting away from his troubled relationship with his father. Nick finds himself in the right place, in the right time and has been rushed to an important undercover assignment in Panama.

Pretending to be an English professor at the University of Panama, Nick is trying to infiltrate student groups who are determined to regain ownership of the Panama Canal. Nick, however, is still a young man (23) and falls in love with one of his students, which plays with his heart, mind, and ideologies – something a spy cannot afford.

One of the enigmatic pulls of spy novels is the moral ambiguity that comes with job. This is mostly true in books, as it is difficult, almost impossible actually, to capture the inner struggle in movies. The difference in the literary James Bond or Jason Bourne vs. their cinematic counterparts are striking when it comes to their inner struggles.

In Miraflores: Memories of a Young Spy by Keith Yocum the author captured the protagonist’s inner struggle in a complex and effective way. Young Nick Halliday joins the CIA part out of patriotism, and part out of a juvenile need to get back at his father, a high level official in the State Department.

The author throws many challenges at his young protagonist, including being assigned an important mission right off the bat, as well as young man’s hormones which cannot be underestimated. The moral ambiguity of the ownership of the Panama Canal, nor does the unethical act of dating one of his students never really bothers the young man as much as his loneliness on assignment.

One of the major plot points in this book is Nick’s relationship with his father. I don’t know if it was on purpose or not, but it’s quite clear that Nick is being the jerk while his father is doing his best to keep an ongoing relationship. I thought this point, as well as the whole book actually, was done very well in an engaging manner.

This is an easy to read, gripping book with lots of good history weaved into the narrative. I found the story to be even handed, presenting the case for the Americans investing, and controlling the Panama Canal, as well as the gripes the Panamanian people had with the project.

Spy thrillers come in many shapes and sizes. It's a diverse genre. I will never forget the merciless irony of Graham Greene's Our Man In Havana, or the worryingly plausible The Tailor Of Panama by John le Carre. Both of them classics now. Novels I have read and re-read numerous times.
Miraflores is a fine novel. Nick Haliday is a rookie CIA agent, posing as an English literature professor, in Panama. It is the late 1950s. America fears the growing strength of the great Russian Bear.
A profoundly moving, intense depiction of loneliness and longing in a stunning spy setting. Worthy of classic status in the years ahead.

I love a great spy read and ‘Miraflores’ did not disappoint. Fresh out of college and trying to distance himself from his father, Nick joins the CIA and is sent, rather quickly, to Panama to infiltrate a group of pro-Panama students trying to ensure Panama gains control of the canal from the US.
The story watches Nick as he works through his loneliness in a foreign country while trying to maintain his cover as a profesor. As his relationship with one of his students progresses he is forced to choose between his love and his mission.
While ultimately joining the CIA in defiance from his father, this story shows how family is important and parents will do anything to help their children not only succeed but also survive.
https://www.amazon.com/Miraflores-Memoir-Young-Spy-ebook/dp/B08L56LXVW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=miraflores+memoir+of+a+young+spy&qid=1614289524&sprefix=miraflores&sr=8-3