Don Browne

Spending many holiday hours reading this year, the new novel See Glass by author Ido Graf kept my attention for a good number of days and nights. I mused about the possibilities of world-wide conspiracies overturning democratic governments in one fell swoop, as spies lurk behind every corner watching each other. As described in the publisher's notes: "A former Legionnaire had been working as a journalist in Paris. He meets a mysterious American by chance when the later sails into a quiet fishing village nestled in a remote Andalusian bay. "The yachtsman, also a former Legionnaire, explained that he had been working in private security and he tells a story which at first seems to be fictitious." London based Ido Graf has extensive experience traveling the world, and working in government and private sectors in a "variety of sensitive fields" in the United Kingdom and North America. His work is derived from his own experiences and research, including visits to all the locations found in his October 2020 published spy and conspiracy thriller 404-page book. From beginning to end, the book has real life locations and historical precedents, leading to what would seem to be plausible scenarios whereby figures from 1930s and 40s Germany plot to infiltrate all levels of government and industry around the world The publisher summarizes, "What follows is a life-and-death hunt for a secret which had its birth amid the destruction of Berlin in 1945.There are those within the security services of the Middle East, Europe and the United States who struggle to come to terms with the enormity of the situation. There are others within the corridors of power who wish to prevent that secret from seeing the light of day. They will stop at nothing to reach that aim." I found reading the novel on a Kindle ideal for this thriller, allowing easy lookup of characters, historical and geographical names, and definitions of British terms sprinkled regularly throughout, some would be unfamiliar to American readers. One objection I found in typesetting was the use of italics for a lengthy portions of the novel; notating a manuscript written by one of the characters. My older eyes had great difficulty reading those sections without eyestrain. I would imagine a screenwriter could polish See Glass off and make a very dandy film thriller.