The Foreign Service Journal, November 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2016 39 gers and use all the influence at his disposal to pull Russell out of harm’s way—before it’s too late. Walter Reid, a political-coned Foreign Service officer, has served in Kabul, Geneva, Baghdad and the U.S. NATO Mission in Brussels, where he wrote this novel, his first. Russell King was the author’s great uncle, so Reid was able to draw on family stories passed down for generations, as well as his own extensive research. The result is a blend of history, biography and fiction that is greater than the sum of its parts. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Reid served in the U.S. Navy and worked in the information technology industry. He has taken part in the Bastogne commemorative perimeter march and enjoys touring World War II battle sites. Choice of Enemies: A Nathan Monsarrat Thriller M. A. Richards, Sunbury Press, Inc., 2016, $24.95/hardcover, $16.95/paperback, $4.99/e-book, 224 pages. Light, sweet crude is the mother’s milk of the Niger Delta. As the price for each barrel of oil rises on international mar- kets and the stakes for securing the black gold increase, a consortium of American oil companies and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency plot to secure the flow of the crude. Nathan, a retired CIA deep-cover operative and now dean at a small college in Massachusetts, gets a visit from his former men- tor at the agency, who offers him a stark choice: either go back to Africa to lay the groundwork for a coup d’état, or condemn the woman who saved his life to a brutal execution. Out of options, he returns to Africa. There, with the help of a coterie of new and old allies, as well as his own keen intelligence, sharp wit and considerable charm, Nathan parries the agency, circumvents the consortium and exacts his own vengeance. This book is a finalist for both the Silver Falchion Award and the Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Thriller of 2016. A second title in the series, A Thousand Enemies , is soon to be released. During a Foreign Service career as a cultural attaché with the State Department that spanned more than two decades, M. A. Richards served in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Lagos, Moscow, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Washington, D.C., and as a special adviser to the commander at U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu. He now divides his time between Palm Beach and Tel Aviv. Continued on page 45