From Publishers WeeklyHaving foiled an al-Qaeda plot targeting Times Square in 2006'sThe Faithful Spy(which won an Edgar Award for best first novel), maverick CIA agent John Wells confronts a very different threat in this pulse-pounding sequel fromNew York Timesreporter Berenson. When the CIA's efforts to extract Dr. Sung Kwan, a North Korean scientist and an invaluable source on Kim Jong Il's nuclear ambitions, result in the deaths of Kwan and the rescue team, Wells's significant other, Jennifer Exley, searches to identify the person in U.S. intelligence who compromised Kwan's security. Meanwhile, Wells returns to Afghanistan, the scene of much of the action inThe Faithful Spy, to find out what outside country has been helping the Taliban reassert itself. While the mole hunt will be familiar to genre buffs and the characters and the perils they face aren't as nuanced as those in John le Carré or even David Ignatius, the author's plausible scenario distinguishes this from most spy thrillers.Author tour. (Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From BooklistSeasoned narrator Guidall takes listeners on a global journey of espionage and intrigue, breathing life into CIA agent John Wells, whose voice teems with emotion. Wells’ assignment involves ferreting out a CIA mole, and the tenseness of the task is evident in Guidall’s terse tones. When it becomes clear that the mole is selling secrets to the Chinese, and Wells tries to recover a CIA undercover agent in North Korea, Guidall instills Wells’ voice with carefully placed pauses. These pauses highlight Wells’ confusion and despair at the realization that a conflict between world powers may be imminent, and there seems to be nothing he can do to stop it. Berenson’s follow-up to The Faithful Spy (2007) is a winner. --Sheri Melnick