NOBLE CAUSE, a roman a clef novel
THE STORY
Mike Shocklee is a mid-level operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency. In March 1993, he is deployed to Somalia as part of a CIA element to provide intelligence support for the U.S.-led United Nations humanitarian relief effort. His assignment: to locate and reactivate former CIA human intelligence (HUMINT) assets who can provide intelligence on rival, warring clans.
This assignment is simple. It is specific. And it goes horribly wrong.
He locates and reactivates the intelligence cell, but when Hell breaks loose, Shocklee takes matters into his own hands. Initiating a risky gambit unsanctioned by anyone in the CIA, he moves his assets out of safety and out of hiding into the dangerous environs of central Mogadishu. In the intense fighting that ensues, disaster strikes. Shocklee not only loses his assets, but is seriously wounded.
Back in the States and reassigned to headquarters at Langley, Shocklee is back at work. But all too soon, he feels the oppression of the bureaucracy wearing him thin. As he starts to take matters into his own hands...to wage his own war against the terrorists, gangs, and thugs...the body-count around Shocklee, himself, begins to rise. It will be up to senior CIA agent Jack Casey to discover what's happening and why--and decide if he can, or should, stop it.
ENDORSEMENT
"Add Jack Kassinger to the list of intelligent, entertaining thriller writers whose ranks already include John le Carré and Tom Clancy. This is taut, terrifying writing that engulfs the reader into the action. Every page you turn puts you on the ground, in the fray, with such realism you’ll be glad to make it out in one piece.”—CLC Book Review, KFNX, Phoenix
PURCHASE
Books may be purchased on:
Genre: Spy Fiction
ISBN: 13:978-1-936587-59-9
eISBN: 10: 1-936-58759-9
EXCERPT
"Shocklee had been on the job for about six months. He was a pretty good street officer, but not much of a HQS branch manager. Goodman knew that to be the case from talking to managers who had supervised him in similar assignments. Despite knowing that, Goodman was still inclined to give Shocklee free rein and time to develop new operations that would increase Africa Division's terrorism reporting. From Goodman's perspective, he owed the officer that much for his work in Somalia and the injury he sustained as a result of that work, regardless of the manner in which the injury came about.
"Shocklee, on the other hand, remained resentful of everything that had happened to him in Somalia. He was dead set on getting back at those who took umbrage with his performance and spent the better part of the previous six months massaging the chip on his shoulder. The fact that his war injury had left him with a limp that would be with him for the rest of his life simply added fuel to a slow-burning fire. He had worked hour after hour, day by day, and week after week devising an intricate operation that, in his mind, would show the naysayers just how good an ops officer he really was.
"As his plan began to take form, he soon realized that success of his intricately planned operation would require more effort by the AF Anti-Terrorism Center to improve CIA's field reporting on the terrorism target in Africa. He stepped up the effort by increasingly sending more messages to the field describing terrorism activities taking place on a global basis...."
PRESS RELEASE
Dec. 19, 2011 - PRLog - Brighton Publishing LLC today released the first edition print edition of
Noble Cause, by author Jack Kassinger. This gritty, breakout spy thriller challenges readers'
desire for victory against terrorists versus our commitment to playing by the rules. Noble Cause
is available in time for Christmas shopping in both print and eBook through Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, and leading retailers nationwide.
"Add Jack Kassinger to the list of intelligent, entertaining thriller writers whose ranks
already include John le Carre and Tom Clancy, This is taut, terrifying writing that engulfs the
reader into the action. Every page you turn puts you on the ground, in the fray, with such realism you'll be glad to make it out in one piece."-ClC Book Review, KFNX, Phoenix
From the talented pen of writer Jack Kassinger comes Mike Shocklee, a mid-level operations officer in the Central lntelligence Agency. ln March 1993, Shocklee was deployed to Somalia as part of a CIA element to provide intelligence support for the U.S.-led United Nations humanitarian relief effort. His assignment: to locate and reactivate former CIA human intelligence (HUMINT) assets who can provide intelligence on rival, warring clans.
This assignment is simple. lt is specific, And it goes horribly wrong.
He locates and reactivates the intelligence cell, but when Hell breaks loose, Shocklee takes matters into his own hands. lnitiating a risky gambit unsanctioned by anyone in the CIA, he moves his assets out of safety and out of hiding into the dangerous environs of central Mogadishu. ln the intense lighting that ensues, disaster strikes. Shocklee not only loses his assets, but is seriously wounded.
Back in the States and reassigned to headquarters at Langley, Shocklee is back at work. But all too soon, he feels the oppression of the bureaucracy wearing him thin. As he starts to take matters into his own hands . . . to wage his own war against the terrorists, gangs and thugs . . . the body-count around Shocklee, himself, starts to rise. lt will be up to senior CIA agent Jack Casey to discover what's happening and why-and decide if he can, or should, stop it.
''Jack Kassinger brings his personal experience as a career intelligence officer to plot what could have been ripped from the headlines and delivers an adrenaline-fueled, nail-biter of a novel that will amaze and entertain," said Kathie McGuire, director of Brighton Publishing LLC. "We live in a scary world, but few things compare the realpolitik imagination of Jack Kassinger and what he has in store for his readers."
Jack Kassinger was born in Henderson, Kentucky, and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Virginia Community College and the Federal Executive lnstitute in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of "Holding Hands with Heroes," a memoir published in 2010. Following his service in the Marine Corps, Kassinger joined the Central lntelligence Agency, and retired in 1995 as a Senior lntelligence Officer. He resides in Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, with his wife, Cherie.
