Beirut Station, Vidich - B+

                       This is the sixth novel by the former CIA agent, and perhaps the best of his so far.  All of the books are set in the past, and this one is in Lebanon in 2006 just before Condi Rice's visit to broker a peace between Israel and Hezbollah. Analise is a Lebanese-American CIA operative working undercover as a UN refugee counselor. Her task is to befriend a young boy who she tutors in order to track the activities of the boy's grandfather, Quassem. The grandfather is a highly placed Hezbollah fighter who has the blood of a great many Jews on his hands, and both the CIA and the Mossad are working to ambush him. He is extremely careful, and the focus of those in  pursuit is to find the correct place to set an IED to end Quassem's career. This story expertly outlines the tensions of Analise's position: she is a woman in a man's world, she is part of a culture in which women are less than equal, she is without diplomatic cover and on her own if things go south, and she is constantly juggling her story to avoid the inquiring minds around her. Indeed, this may be one of the best I've ever read exploring an individual's inner tensions. The superb plan is never implemented because Analise finds herself in a position to eliminate Quassem before he kills her. Although the blast puts her in the hospital, she does get her man. She then turns to the fact that she believes the Mossad killed her boss, the station chief in Beirut. That job proves to be a bit more complex.