The Powers That Be (Room 59)

by Cliff Ryder
  
Heart-stopping espionage thriller full of action and intrigue!

The Powers That Be by Cliff Ryder is an awesome beginning to a new suspense series, Room 59, in which a multi-national and clandestine agency meets the challenges of today's world of intelligence and action. Room 59 is a high-tech, action-based agency of the best operatives in espionage and counterterrorism. With multi-national agents, Room 59 accepts the dangerous missions that individual governments cannot touch for reasons of politics or danger. Kate Cochran, the head of Room 59, consults with anonymous representatives from different countries but in the end, it is her job to call the missions that will put her agents at risk of their lives in an attempt to keep the world safe from the new threats in today's global world.

In The Powers That Be, the disappearance of a double agent in Cuba turns ominous as political events in Cuba heat up. Rumors of rebel forces, action in Cuba and Miami, and the secret past of an operative all combine in this fast-paced thriller to heighten the intrigue. As the mission unfolds and lives are at stake, Cliff Ryder allows the reader a glimpse into the conflicting loyalties of governments and within individuals. International politics are not quite so black and white, and undercurrents of practicality, personal history and emotion enter into each mission. Cliff Ryder is excellent in creating a truly thrilling espionage suspense read with multi-dimensional characters in the agents and also the underlying politics. In The Powers That Be, danger is truly danger and lives are on the line with no guarantee. Cliff Ryder keeps the readers guessing with exciting twists until the very end when tough choices must be made in the heat of action. Forced with an excruciating heart-stopping choice, will the agents choose mission over their own personal loyalties?

Although the publisher labels this book as men's adventure, this book and this series will appeal to anyone, men and women, who like heart-stopping action, intriguing characters from director head to individual agents and political intrigue. In The Powers That Be both the women and men are multi-dimensional characters, highly trained and capable, dedicated to the mission and sometimes torn by the tough choices to be made when mission strategies come face to face with the enemy.

The Powers That Be has all the very best of the genre from the early classics to modern films and creates something entirely unique. The Powers That Be has all the intriguing high tech tools of the loved classics of Mission Impossible and James Bond but in Room 59, the danger is real and ever-present and the enemy not simplistic. Lovers of MI-5, Jean Le Carre and the Sandbaggers will relish the reflections on the nature of espionage and the concept of who watches the watchers. While Room 59 recalls all the great traditions of espionage thrillers, this novel also adds a new dimension --- in-the-trenches action and a look into some of the political hot spots from both a ground-level and long-term view. The Powers That Be is a must read for espionage enthusiasts craving variety in the genre!

From the back cover: THE GAME When a double agent in Cuba suddenly disappears, there's a concern that he might have gone rogue, working against Room 59 and the world at large. But one of the agency's top spymasters has a blood tie to the operative in question, which leaves him with an agonizing choice: allow the mission to be scrubbed, and leave thousands to die in the resulting bloodbath--or risk everything he knows, including his career, to keep his secret deeply buried. THE PLAYERS Room 59 is a multinational policing agency sanctioned to terminate global threats that governments can't touch. Its high-level operatives are seasoned in the dangerous game of espionage and counterterrorism. A Room 59 mission puts everything on the line; emotions run high, and so does the body count.