Michael Frost Beckner is a renowned screenwriter and producer of film and television, best known for writing the military thriller, “Sniper” (which became a film franchise), and one of my favorite espionage films, “Spy Game” (starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt). Beckner recently turned to a new venture–writing espionage thrillers. Muir’s Gambit, the first of a trilogy, serves as a “Spy Game” prequel, immersing readers into events that precipitated the pulse-pounding movie plot.
Muir’s Gambit is a complex, tense story that moves seamlessly from CIA operations officer Nathan Muir’s murky and morally ambiguous past to the present, where’s he’s suspected of murdering Charlie March, his CIA mentor. The man sent to unravel Muir’s involvement in the murder is Russell Aiken, a malcontent CIA lawyer and Muir loyalist whose life is unraveling on multiple levels. Muir is the perfect spy–charming, prevaricating, and manipulative with an instinct for survival. Despite his questionable and often illegal actions, the reader learns not to second guess his loyalty to certain people and causes.
Screenwriting and novel writing are two very different disciplines. Beckner has proven a master at both. And of the spy genre. I can’t wait to dive into his next two books, Bishop’s Endgame and Aiken in Check.
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