A Real Spy Tells a Tale of Espionage in the Field: Review of "The Maverick Experiment" by Drew Berquist

In the tradition of Ian Fleming and John Le Carre, Drew Berquist is a former intelligence officer and contractor who has chosen to tell a tale of spy craft in Southwest Asia. It is clear that he is using this novel, and the entire Maverick series, to make a political point about the deleterious effects of bureaucracy and political correctness tying the hands of our intelligence community. His polemical bent notwithstanding, he tells a tale that is worthy of being read.

Derek Stevens is called out of early retirement to lead a Maverick team to do the black ops dirty work that the CIA cannot afford to have its own employees do. Berquist writes with the voice of one who has been there and understands the labyrinthine ways of the intelligence community and Special Ops. His well-told tale of the Maverick's team's exploits in Afghanistan and Pakistan kept me on the edge of my seat.

I look forward to the next book in this series.

Enjoy.

Al

Lithgow's Vivid Memoir - Review of "Drama: An Actor's Education"

I have long appreciated and admired the acting of John Lithgow. I thought he was superb on Broadway in "Requiem for a Heavyweight." His role as the transgendered nurse in "The World According to Garp" was transcendent. And there have been many more memorable roles - onstage, TV and on the silver screen.

This memoir of his evolution as an actor and as a human being is a wonderful example of his skill as a story teller. John Irving gets it right in his blurb for the book: "John Lithgow's memoir is more than an insider's view of his craft. Lithgow likens acting to storytelling, and he's a wonderful writer. I loved this book."

The bulk of the book is taken up with Lithgow's early years at Harvard, New York and London. HE shares wonderful and transparent anecdotes of his relationships with Mike Nichols, Liv Ullman, Meryl Streep, Bob Fosse, Brian De Palma and many other luminaries of the entertainment world.

Lithgow's complex relationship with his father is a thread that weaves itself throughout thew narrative.

This book is a must-read for lovers of acting and storytelling.

Enjoy!

Al