I decided it was time to take a break from my usual books focused on life’s hard questions, deep introspection and angst. I felt like it was time to lighten up, so I tackled Dan Fesperman’s 400 page “Safe Houses.” And I am glad I did!

Safe Houses is a story of CIA intrigue, with a feminist twist. Helen Abell is a 23 year old low level CIA operative stationed in Berlin in 1979. Her responsibility is to maintain a network of safe houses in Berlin, where CIA agents can meet with operatives without fear of disclosure. While in one of the safe houses checking on the recording equipment, she is surprised by the unplanned arrival of two men who were not known to her. Helen hides in an upstairs bedroom and overhears a conversation that is not intended for her ears. She takes the tapes of the conversation for security and leaves the house as soon as the men have gone.

While at another safe house, Helen witnesses and prevents an attempted rape of an agent by a case officer, Kevin Gilley. Kevin Gilley, code name Robert, was a fixer for the CIA and a very dangerous man. He did not appreciate that Helen was a witness to the attempted act (which she taped). The agent was found dead later that evening. These two incidents set off a series of events that brings Helen into contact with various other female CIA operatives who become friends and contacts for life. While in Berlin, Helen had a romantic relationship with a more experienced, higher level CIA agent, Clark Baucom. Clark plays a significant role in Helen’s CIA experience.

The book moves back and forth between Europe in 1979 and Poston, Maryland in 2014, when Helen and her husband are killed in their bed by their developmentally disabled son, Willard. The murder brings Helen’s daughter, Anna Shoat, back to Poston from Baltimore, looking for answers to her parent’s death. She hires Henry Mattick, a casual investigator with a past of his own, to help her, and together they begin to learn Helen’s history.

While Anna and Henry are learning more and more about Helen’s past, finding letters, documents and articles about her activities, 1979 and 2014 ultimately come together. The book is well written, the story gripping and most importantly for this type of book, the ending ties everything together in a believable fashion. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. You can reserve this book from the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.