The Nature of the Beast

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Summary: In the CIA, Mea Culpa Has No Place
Review: In "The Nature of the Beast," Burton Hersh's new novel detailing the ongoings of the American intelligence community, Owen Rheinsdorf, ex-CIA operations specialist, is brought from retirement, without much say in the matter, by his former boss Munson Dyckler for one last hurrah. Pruitt Rumsey-pedophile, assassin-and Bunker Doyle, a firebrand rightwing talk-show host turned presidential candidate a la Rush Limbaugh, make worthy antagonists. Does this domestic affair fall outside the CIA's jurisdiction? If the answer is Yes, Hersh isn't telling, and he should know, having documented the Central Intelligence Agency in his book "The Old Boys," published in 1992 by Scribner. Balancing out the demands made by the historicity of "The Nature of the Beast," and the sexual dysfunction of Pruitt Rumsey, Hersh has developed a first-rate love story between Owen Rheinsdorf and Lauren Dyckler, some years his junior and daughter of the boss. Hersh seems to be telling us, If some parts of human nature, and history, are tough to face, some parts are a pleasure, too.

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Summary: A deadly conflict with a delusional demagogue
Review: The Nature Of The Beast by Burton Hersh is a novel about Owen Rheinsdorf, an ex-CIA operations specialist who gets dragged out of retirement and plunged into a deadly conflict with a delusional demagogue and a psychopathic, pedophile assassin. The Nature Of The Beast is recommended as a grippingly written saga, crafted with a firm grounding in the history of secret conflicts in Vietnam, Portugal, Uruguay, Panama, and Moscow, and having the profound double impact of both realism and high-stakes tension.

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Summary: Intense character treatment in The Nature of the Beast
Review: This book is intense in its treatment of various dangerous characters. The pedophile character, Pruitt Rumsey, is hardly the beast. He may seem evil but he's really just a broken human, predictable in his violence. The real villain of this book is Munson Dyckler, manipulating people and events, possibly at the beck and call of whoever is paying his bills. Owen Rheinsdorf, the main character, approaches right action as if it's a hot tea kettle - consider but don't touch. The action scenes move well and are bound to get the reader's emotions going strongly, often with frustration at not being able to reach into the novel and stop the rich, cigar-chewing Dyckler. Sitting in his library, this crony of someone(s) rich thinks nothing of ruining or ending lives or ambitions. Those he manipulates carry a strange mix of duty and want while serving the same human master. It's not really a pretty picture of Intelligence. Hersh is questioning leadership motivation in this country. And that lends a kind of eerieness to this pre-911 novel. I would recommend Burton Hersh's The Nature of the Beast to readers who enjoy political intrigue, conspiracies and mysteries.