June Thomas of Slate reports on newly released book titles and the world of publishing in The Book Reader.

When I say that Alex Berenson’s new thriller is as engaging, satisfying, and complex as a long running TV show, I mean it as a compliment.

Like an expansive television saga, “Twelve Days,” Berenson’s ninth novel featuring former CIA agent John Wells, feels like part of a continuing long form narrative. Unlike some series whose characters seem to have amnesia about the things that have happened to them in the past, Berenson often refers back to earlier adventures in a way that rewards completists without confusing readers who are new to the series.

“Twelve Days” begins where “The Counterfeit Agent” left off, with Wells having averted a major geopolitical crisis but feeling exhausted and disappointed that some of the bad guys got away. From D.C. he travels to Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, and South Africa, thinking fast, shooting straight, and sleeping very little.

If this were a TV show, it would be part “Amazing Race,” part “Homeland,” and, with its clock ticking down to disaster, part “24.”

Berenson is a former New York Times reporter, and he does a great job of threading factual elements into the fictional narrative. Nine books in, John Wells might be tired and more than a little beat-up but his adventures are fresher than ever.

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