The Haze

by Burnaby Hawkes

Overview

Disgraced former CIA operative Hector Kane thought he'd left his thrilling past behind. His once vibrant life has taken a nosedive into monotony and heartbreak, punctuated by a failing marriage and the sorrow of losing his son. He's barely staying afloat, teaching at a prestigious Middle Eastern university, always yearning for the adrenaline-fueled days of his past.

Out of the blue, an unexpected lifeline: The CIA wants him back. A glimmer of hope sparks in Hector-a shot at mending his marriage, living the life he's always dreamed of. The mission seems innocuously simple: take his wife, Yubi, and five of his students to a picturesque island in the South China Sea. The catch? The true nature of the task will only be revealed once they are in Asia.

In the heart of Asia, the puzzle pieces begin to form a disturbing picture. When asked to infect one of his students with a lethal virus, Hector starts to question the mission. The plot thickens further when a Saudi prince dials his number, claiming that Yubi is a Chinese spy who has seduced and abducted his son.

With this revelation, the stakes have never been higher. Hector is on his own, torn between loyalty and truth. He's in a race against time to salvage his marriage, fulfill his mission, and most importantly, figure out who he truly is. Will Hector find a way to unravel the tangled web of deception and danger he's ensnared in?

"The Haze" is a thrilling dive into a world of espionage, danger, and personal discovery.

"Engrossing... Hawkes keeps the twists coming... Fans of superior post-Cold War spy fiction will be satisfied."

- Publishers Weekly

"A knotty and satisfying tale of action, drama, and secrets."

- Kirkus Reviews

"With its relentless pace, smart plot, and top-notch writing, The Haze makes for a most appealing and compelling read... The Haze is a must-read for fans of Spy Stories and is recommended without reservation."

- Book Viral

"A thoroughly enjoyable contemporary spy novel recommended to fans of the well-known 'heavy hitter' espionage writers."

- Reedsy

"Reading The Haze feels very much like going on a tour round the world and meeting diverse people, cultures, cities... The author's wordplay is quite fascinating. . . Also, to his credit is his in-depth knowledge of global geopolitics which he put to good use in giving the book a real life semblance. The Haze is a thrilling book that could make anyone's day."

- Mary Jane Anderson, book blogger

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781777202453
Publisher:	Athena Book Tavern
Publication date:	05/07/2020
Series:	Hector Kane , #1
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Burnaby Hawkes is a Canadian author, videographer, translator, and former analyst for the NATO Council of Canada. He was born to Coptic parents in Egypt in 1984 and finished his medical degree in 2006. In 2012 Hawkes started his master's degree in global affairs and international security at the American University of Cairo; in 2014 he moved to the United States to study nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. Hawkes lives in the beautiful city of St. Catharines, Ontario. His writings have appeared in Heater, The Raven Chronicles, ArabLit, and many other magazines and publications.www.burnabyhawkes.com

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Haze

"A knotty and satisfying tale of action, drama, and secrets." - Kirkus Reviews

"Engrossing... Hawkes keeps the twists coming... Fans of superior post-Cold War spy fiction will be satisfied." - Publishers Weekly

"With its relentless pace, smart plot, and top-notch writing, The Haze makes for a most appealing and compelling read... The Haze is a must-read for fans of Spy Stories and is recommended without reservation." - Book Viral

"A thoroughly enjoyable contemporary spy novel recommended to fans of the well-known 'heavy hitter' espionage writers." - Reedsy

"Reading The Haze feels very much like going on a tour round the world and meeting diverse people, cultures, cities... The author's wordplay is quite fascinating. . . Also, to his credit is his in-depth knowledge of global geopolitics which he put to good use in giving the book a real life semblance. The Haze is a thrilling book that could make anyone's day." - Mary Jane Anderson, book blogger

From the Publisher

2021-05-20
A weathered CIA agent takes on a new mission in this debut spy novel featuring multinational intrigue.

Hawkes’ intricate tale is set in 2013, when Hector Kane, a CIA operative masquerading as a college professor, is leading a class trip to Pulau, a fictional island nation in Southeast Asia. For the last three years, Kane has been a professor at the American Institute of Middle Eastern Studies in Cairo, where his father once taught. The institute has a history with the Pentagon, which uses it as a cover to plant soldiers and spies in the Middle East. Even the university trip to Pulau, ostensibly for academic purposes, is a sham—an excuse for Kane to get close to Fatima Noman, one of the students. Fatima is the dean’s niece—but more importantly, her father, Ibrahim Noman, holds tremendous political sway in Egypt. In 2011, his organization, Haram, was a platform for political activism, earning him the sobriquet “Godfather of the Revolution.” Now, Ibrahim runs Tamarod, a political venture to depose the Muslim Brotherhood and redo the last election. Kane’s mission is called Operation C.O.R.O.N.A., the purpose of which is “to abort the Egyptian anti-democratic movement known as Tamarod.” Fatima is a key piece of the plan: Kane, working with Pulau operatives, has been instructed to inject Fatima with KV-19, a coronavirus that causes severe respiratory symptoms. With Fatima infected, the CIA’s Cairo office will use her health as a bargaining chip to force Ibrahim to abort Tamarod. But it’s uncertain if this is the true mission, and Kane must wade through the waters of intrigue and a throng of geopolitical jostling to make sense of the situation. Like a good spy, he knows there’s no one to trust—least of all, his CIA handlers and associates. Hawkes is a wonderfully vivid writer, using striking descriptions to illustrate character and place. “Her cheeks were stamped by butterfly freckles,” he writes of Fatima. The author’s passages about Pulau bring to life the island, with its “yacht-gorged harbor.” “Despite the tyranny of the haze,” Hawkes writes, “the city lived up to its reputation. Dazzling lights enlivening its streets and adorning its billion trees.” Given the author’s facility to make a story lively and urgent with clarity and details, the tale’s frequent digressions into the past become distracting, even frustrating. Hawkes is eager to establish Kane’s trajectory through the agency, rife with failures and frustrations. When Kane encounters a new character, the event often launches a backstory that tends to be too lengthy. With some characters, like Ibrahim, this backtracking is meant to lend the tale’s present the proper stakes. With others, it seems that Hawkes enjoys shading in the past even if it threatens the momentum of the fictional present. The novel’s swift and excellent prelude, for instance, shows what the author is capable of when his foot stays on the gas. Still, the story is enjoyably twisty, full of duplicity and deception, and portrays complicated characters who have competing allegiances and motives. The book also deftly depicts the frighteningly labyrinthine bureaucracy of the intelligence community.

A knotty and satisfying tale of action, drama, and secrets.

Kirkus Reviews