John Wells

John Wells is the CIA operative protagonist of Alex Berenson's thriller series — the agency's most capable field officer, who has spent years undercover in Afghanistan and Pakistan developing relationships and assets that make him uniquely valuable and uniquely damaged. Wells converted to Islam during his undercover years, a detail that distinguishes him from conventional American thriller protagonists and gives the series its most interesting moral and psychological territory.

Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, writes Wells with the intelligence community knowledge that comes from serious journalism on national security matters. The geopolitical scenarios Wells navigates — Pakistan's nuclear program, terrorist networks, Russian interference — are constructed with the same research rigor that informed Berenson's reporting career.

The series engages seriously with the moral costs of covert operations in a way that popular thriller fiction rarely attempts — Wells' conversion, his relationships with the people he has lived among and ultimately worked against, and the institutional cynicism of the agency he serves give the books genuine weight.

Begin with The Faithful Spy and read in order.