The Jacamar Nest

Andrew Thomson is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of
Guelph.

With the end of the Cold War, the espionage thriller has been forced to
seek new conflicts. In the aftermath of the Gulf War, Middle East
terrorists have stepped to the head of the line. The Jacamar Nest
employs this new dynamic to tell the tale of Harry Bracken, intelligence
man turned insurance investigator. Bracken stumbles on a terrorist plot
to extort money from big American businesses, with the goal of funding
terror campaigns around the world. Parry and Withrow are not above using
the usual chichés of the shadowy, powerful intelligence agency and the
sly and fanatical terrorist group, but within these confines they have
created a plausible hero and an interesting story.

Despite the subtitle—“A Thriller / A Love Story”—the book
clearly works best as a thriller. The subplot of the relationship
between Bracken and his new love, Alex, rarely moves beyond the
lovers-on-fire style typical of the genre. Nevertheless, the authors
have made the challenge of writing as a team work to their benefit in
this entertaining spy thriller.