Terrorists threaten to turn an Indonesian province into an Islamic caliphate and threaten the national security of neighboring Australia in Kingdom Of Spies, an explosive thriller filled with violence of action and a tangled web of deception. A rousing debut by Bevan G. Roberts, bursting onto the scene with a compelling storyline that will open the eyes of Western Hemisphere readers to security concerns and operations in Southeast Asia.
Australian intelligence officer Jordan Carter is in Indonesia as part of a joint initiative between the two countries to fight Islamic extremism in North Maluku, mainly focused on keeping different factions fighting against each other rather than organize and become a bigger problem. Only now there’s a rising threat from the Islamic State that is a potential game changer. Which puts Jordan Carter on the offensive as his network and operations seem to be compromised. As he takes more and more risks, a journalist desperate for a big scoop inserts herself into the action and gets a story that’s more than she bargained for. With danger and corruption lurking around every corner, repelling the threat and surviving the action are no guarantee for anyone involved in this bubbling cauldron of violence.
There is one main aspect to Kingdom Of Spies that makes this novel stand out, namely it’s the first novel I’ve read that focuses exclusively on Southeast Asia. There are books that involve the region as a setting, sure, but this book is written from the perspective of Australian spies and journalists fighting an emerging threat in their backyard. There’s no Americans or Europeans involved at all. As such, it transcends simple entertainment by entering the realm of education, providing a glimpse into terrorist threats on the other side of the world and the resulting geopolitical alliances, challenges and ramifications. Which is a fascinating and an intriguing departure from the usual focal points of the genre that are promoted in this part of the world. Something a little different to thrill and excite fans of the genre.
They say write what you know, and Bevan G. Roberts has done just that, skillfully leveraging his prior defense and foreign affairs experience to craft an absorbing and informative thriller with memorable characters, complex state of affairs and vicious exploits. Kingdom Of Spies is one heck of a debut that has me excited to see what Mr. Roberts will come up with as an encore.
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