{"id":5725,"date":"2024-12-09T22:29:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T22:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2024-12-09T22:29:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T22:29:32","slug":"the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Peacock and the Sparrow<\/b> by I.S. Berry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The Peacock and the Sparrow<\/a> by I.S. Berry<\/a>
\nMy rating: 5 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n

Shane Collins is a heavy-drinking veteran CIA agent relegated to Bahrain to finish out his lackluster career. He inherits a low-level informant who manages to scrape together enough intel to satisfy his new station chief, a pudgy bureaucratic “rising star” with a flame up his ass. Shane meets and falls for a beautiful local artist. There are some fellow CIA personnel, a Navy admiral and his aide in the mix, various expats and skeezy locals and the stage is set for dead drops, surreptitious meetings, betrayals, and talk of revolution against the king. The Arab Spring is approaching. The plot is exciting, if more than a bit implausible toward the end, but page-turning fun nonetheless.<\/p>\n

But the best part of the book is the gritty reality painted in beautiful prose conveying the sad on-the-ground hellhole that is Bahrain. At least I think it is what the real Bahrain is like; the author has me convinced, anyway. Clearly the author, a former CIA agent herself, knows her stuff and makes it feel so real I was tempted to shake the sand from my shoes after a reading session. I’ll stretch my 4.5 to 5 stars for this one. It’s the best spy novel I’ve read in years.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry My rating: 5 of 5 stars Shane Collins is a heavy-drinking veteran CIA agent relegated to Bahrain to finish out his lackluster career. He inherits a low-level informant who manages to scrape together enough intel to satisfy his new station chief, a pudgy bureaucratic “rising star” with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry My rating: 5 of 5 stars Shane Collins is a heavy-drinking veteran CIA agent relegated to Bahrain to finish out his lackluster career. He inherits a low-level informant who manages to scrape together enough intel to satisfy his new station chief, a pudgy bureaucratic “rising star” with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OnWords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Russ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Russ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Russ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"headline\":\"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":230,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1683135436l\\\/62919887._SX98_.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1683135436l\\\/62919887._SX98_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1683135436l\\\/62919887._SX98_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1683135436l\\\/62919887._SX98_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/\",\"name\":\"OnWords\",\"description\":\"Reflections of a writer on language and life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\",\"name\":\"Russ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Russ\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/russ.atkinson1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/studio.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCAtS1H93Hh-6ptZ-6WzKpMw\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords","og_description":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry My rating: 5 of 5 stars Shane Collins is a heavy-drinking veteran CIA agent relegated to Bahrain to finish out his lackluster career. He inherits a low-level informant who manages to scrape together enough intel to satisfy his new station chief, a pudgy bureaucratic “rising star” with […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/","og_site_name":"OnWords","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","article_published_time":"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Russ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Russ","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/"},"author":{"name":"Russ","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"headline":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry","datePublished":"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/"},"wordCount":230,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/","name":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry - OnWords","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-09T22:29:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1683135436l\/62919887._SX98_.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-peacock-and-the-sparrow-by-i-s-berry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/","name":"OnWords","description":"Reflections of a writer on language and life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1","name":"Russ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Russ"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","https:\/\/studio.youtube.com\/channel\/UCAtS1H93Hh-6ptZ-6WzKpMw"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p51pCz-1ul","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5726,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions\/5726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}