February 2021

I enjoyed Alex Berenson’s earlier books, including his debut, THE FAITHFUL SPY, but had not read his work in a while. In THE POWER COUPLE, he moves beyond his John Wells series with a stand-alone thriller. The press materials describe it as Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Taken, which is a great comp. It’s both a look at a marriage through the eyes of a couple and a brisk espionage story.

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth are U.S. intelligence staffers --- she is with the FBI, and he is with the NSA. As the book opens, they are on a vacation celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with their teenage children. What should be an idyllic time in Barcelona is upended as their 19-year-old daughter, Kira, goes missing on a night when she is out clubbing. Her younger brother, Tony, notes that she is gone, and for a good part of the opening chapters, it is about trying to get her back. Rebecca employs everything she knows from working in the field and tries every angle she can. At the same time, we are seeing the story of their marriage from her eyes. She clearly is an Alpha female. I am not giving anything away here about what happens to Kira.

We then turn the page, literally, and get Brian’s view of the marriage, and lots more is revealed. It’s that moment when you realize that, within a long marriage, there are two very different tales of what is going on. Throughout you see the strains that have been on this marriage for years, as well as the joyous moments, and there were many instances I wondered how they were still together.

As the reader, you get to see a story that has been hidden between the main characters that takes on a slow reveal. It’s tough to pull off two very different plotlines so well --- the marriage and the espionage. It worked for me. And it has a terrific conclusion. Do not read the ending first!