CIA Operatives Dodge Danger, Confront Terrorist Attacks in Realistic Race Against Time, The Handler

New York City, August 4, 2023 — In the real world, “espionage is not a tuxedo and a martini,” quipped prolific author Jeffrey S. Stephens, who has written extensively about missions involving CIA operatives and national security.

“They work in the shadows. They're in danger,” he added. “There's so much that goes on that we don't know about — so many near misses that we can never hear about for obvious security reasons.”

His latest book, The Handler, pays homage to those who “work in the shadows” to protect the people of the United States with a chillingly realistic plot centered on the revival of Al Qaeda and its efforts to pull off a large act of terrorism.

The book features Nick Reagan, an abundantly confident CIA operative and American hero who will go to any length to protect the country he loves. And in The Handler, Reagan and his team travel to the ends of the earth to locate an anonymous terrorist determined to unleash a series of unholy attacks on America. Can their mission succeed when they don’t even know who they’re looking for?

Readers first meet Reagan as he traces a trail of clues to China in search of the Ghost Chip — a new technology that turns cell phones into detonators and renders them untraceable. In the hands of terrorists, the Ghost Chip would be catastrophic.

When the CIA uncovers details of a violent assault planned in New York City, Reagan and his partner, Carol Gellos, are assigned to prevent it — facing long odds and danger along the way.

As events unfold, it becomes apparent the incident in Manhattan was only the first in a series of intended terrorist strikes within the United States. Even worse, Reagan discovers that the man behind this onslaught is further along in his preparations than anyone in the intelligence community anticipated.

The anonymous ISIS handler behind these assaults is using new technology, as well as information gathered from three American scientists kidnapped in Pakistan, to coordinate his plans. The result will be a gruesome fate for thousands of innocent people … unless Reagan can stop him.

After deciphering the code being used by the Handler to plot his bloody scheme, Reagan races against time, needing help as never before from his group of talented associates, including his lover, top CIA analyst Erin David.

Throughout The Handler, the author toggles between perspectives, giving readers a chilling look inside the minds of Islamic terrorists hellbent on carrying out heinous acts in the name of the Koran, while simultaneously, Reagan risks his life to thwart the awful carnage.

BestThrillers.com calls The Handler, “A taut terrorism thriller that mesmerizes with a dizzying global conspiracy and believable stakes,” and The Real Book Spy calls it, “Jason Bourne for the new millennium.”

About the Author
A native of New York City, Jeffrey S. Stephens is a successful attorney in private practice, admitted in both New York and Connecticut. Stephens has lived for more than 30 years in Greenwich, which is where he and his wife, Nancy, raised their two sons, Graham and Trevor. Stephens is the author of the Jordan Sandor thrillers, Targets Of Deception, Targets Of Opportunity, Targets Of Revenge and Rogue Mission, as well as the Anthony Walker murder mystery Crimes And Passion and the Pencraft First Place Award winning novel, Fool’s Errand.

For more information, please visit www.jeffreystephens.com, or follow the author on Facebook (Author Jeffrey Stephens), Instagram (jss50) and Twitter (@j_stephensbooks).

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Handler-Nick-Reagan-Thriller/dp/1637585829/

The Handler

Publisher: Post Hill Press

ISBN-10: ‎ 1637585829

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1637585825

Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and other booksellers