The Wolves

Adrenaline. Alex Berenson gets you addicted to the warm substance running through your blood vessels every time he puts out a John Wells story. Some writers get to do it once or twice in their literary life, even Hemingway. Berenson called this last surge “Twelve Days.”It should be trite and predictable. The hero saves the world against incredible odds and physical pain, all the time struggling with his demons. Wells knows Iran had nothing to do with the surfacing of 1.3 kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, HEU; the good stuff for nuclear obliteration. He knew the President was jumping at the bit to go to war, inspired and aided by the usual gaggle of sycophants. To stop this war Wells had to find whose HEU it was against all the gambling money in the world and a woman personifying evil. Ah! Cherchez la femme! It is not trite and predictable. Berenson creates a flesh an blood protagonist saddled with weaknesses and strengths. He puts him in chapter after chapter of boiling suspense; suspense the reader wants to answer in the next chapter, and the next, and the next. His narrative is so tight you could bounce the proverbial quarter on the army cot on it. Every word you read has incredible relevance to the plot. Yep, the guy is really good. He made me buy the next book by the time I began to write this review. You want real thrills as only a Berenson book can give you? Read “Twelve Days,” the Five Stars John Wells thriller.

THE WOLVES is author Alex Berenson’s final book of the trilogy that began with  The Counterfeit Agent (A John Wells Novel)  and  Twelve Days (A John Wells Novel) , this pair having the author’s superhero John Wells racing against the clock to expose a nefarious plot framing Iran as a nuclear-capable imminent aggressor against the United States and/or Israel, an unacceptable scenario for the American President, who responds by setting a 12-day deadline for Iran to open its nuclear facilities to inspection or be subject to a U.S. ground and air attack. Now, the intrigue foiled but the mastermind still at large, Wells and his CIA enablers, Shafer and Duto, strike a deal with the President: they won’t reveal to the press his gullibility in the almost-war if Wells is allowed to take out the architect of the deception, Aaron Duberman, a Jewish American millionaire and former big contributor to the President’s election campaign holed up in Tel Aviv under Israeli protection ‒ for now anyway.In this conclusion to a first-rate trio, the action transfers half-way around the world to Hong Kong and Macao and sucks in the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Her Majesty’s MI6, and the nuclear-powered supercarrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. Not a bad cast, that.What I liked best about this thriller, besides Wells himself as the no-nonsense, modern day Raguel, the Archangel of Justice, is the setting in Hong Kong and Macao. Having visited both in 1993 when they were still British and Portuguese colonies respectively, THE WOLVES gave me a glimpse as to how both have changed since. While I love London more than any other city I’ve visited, Hong Kong was then and still is the most spectacular. Take the tram to the top of Victoria Peak and tell me that isn’t so.

Another fun John Wells adventure. This one mainly takes place in Hong Kong. Love stories in exotic locales. Wells sets his mind to eliminating Duberman, a billionaire who almost tricked the US President into starting a war against Iran in the last book, called Twelve Days. Duberman knows the US is after him so he barricades himself in his HK mansion, always surrounded by tons of security. Only traveling to his Macao casino by helicopter with his family or friends, knowing the US won't take a shot at him with innocents nearby. Wells has a seemingly impossible task and his desperation sees him making bold fatal moves. The US President uses the Brits MI6 to counter his moves. The Russian SVR offers to protect Duberman but really have their own agenda. There are many twists, turns and surprises that I'm not mentioning here. Don't want to spoil it for you. The writing is good. Everything feels very real. Dirty tiny apartments for safe houses. Old little motorcycle from the 80s when he needs wheels. Nothing is glorified. Duberman's world is luxury. Well's world is spartan. There are many more enjoyable aspects to this book but brevity confines me.

I fell in love with Alex Berenson’s John Wells character when I read the first novel, The Faithful Spy, several years ago. I have eagerly awaited the next book in the series each February. Each story has been an excellent read that I was compelled to read as quickly as possible - until now. Each exciting story was well written, richly detailed, and plausible, and through the first seven books able to stand on its own.The Wolves is a follow up to Twelve Days, which itself is a sequel to The Counterfeit Agent. Twelve Days picks up where The Counterfeit Agent leaves off, so to fully appreciate it you need to read the former first. Both are excellent examples of the spy genera. Globetrotting John Wells saves millions of people from realistic dangers we face in today’s world.The Wolves is more about Well’s personal revenge against the main protagonist in the previous books, Aaron Duberman. To me Berenson pushed this plot one book too far. It lacks the fast paced intense excitement of the previous novels. There is little in the way of ever present danger to the world, thus the reader.While not terrible it was a disappointment, and a let down from Berenson’s previous books. Nevertheless, I anxiously look the next installment in the John Wells Series.

Alex Berenson is a great thriller writer and I have read all his books except for the Wolves. it is, as expected, An excellent. book. Keeps you reading until the conclusion. Recommend this book, and the John wells series.!

This is the quintessential John Wells story, great action, plot, characters, interesting twists and a great finish to the story that started in the last book. It is not bealivable but still a entertaining escapist read, I recommend without reservation.

It's a book on my kindle.......and another great story in the John Wells saga

Another entertaining read by Alex Berenson. John Wells and company crack problems again.

Great author, love his books and great stories.