Hello everyone! I’m excited to share a book, movie, and wildcard recommendation by author, Al Pessin. He is the author of Body Man. I’ll share more about the author and his book after you have a chance to check out his recommendations.
Take it away, Al!
Book Recommendation: Rebels in the Wild
I’ve been reading some nonfiction books lately, so I’m recommending a great one by a friend of mine, former Associated Press journalist Robert Burns. REBELS IN THE WILD is the character-based but also historically fascinating account of an effort to start a socialist colony in Washington State in the early 20th century. These idealists rebelled against the robber-baron economy of the time, that kept workers and farmers in poverty while the industrialists flourished. Those times gave rise to labor laws, labor unions, Social Security, and other reforms, but that wasn’t enough for the founders of the Equality community. Their effort was ill-fated, but Bob’s book offers an extremely readable account of their lives and a window into a period of American history that in some ways mirrors our own. Then, the concern was about the influence of millionaires. Today, it’s billionaires. And while the Equality settlers’ views were extreme and their effort doomed, their pain and hard work were real and have much to teach us.
TV Series Recommendation: Tehran
One of my favorite TV series in recent years was TEHRAN. It’s an Israeli production with an international cast, including many of Iranian and Arab descent. Its plot could not be more relevant with the US-Israel-Iran war this year. In TEHRAN, undercover Israeli agents inside Iran work to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, while loyal Iranian leaders and operatives push to put the finishing touches on a nuclear bomb. The show’s third season recently finished, and it’s available on Apple TV+ in the US and the UK. Having covered the military, there are always some things in such shows that bother me, including the near-omniscient ability to surveil enemy cities and computer systems. But overall, this is one of the best series of its kind out there. No wonder its first season won the International Emmy for Best Drama Series in 2021. Guest stars with major roles include Glenn Close (season 2) and Hugh Laurie (season 3). The main stars are terrific in their multi-lingual roles. Ethnic-Iranian Israeli actress Niv Sultan as the main Israeli agent and Iranian-American actor Shaun Toub as the Iranian intelligence chief are excellent. Plot twists are mostly believable and the overall impact is frightening, especially considering what’s happening in the real world right now.
Wildcard Recommendation: Le Bureau Des Legendes
For my Wild Card recommendation, I’ll stick with the same genre. Although it premiered in 2001, I still recommend the French series LE BUREAU DES LEGENDES, known as THE BUREAU in English, from Canal+ (available on Paramount+ by subscription and YouTube, Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ for a fee). (Not to be confused with the French version of THE OFFICE, which is called LE BUREAU!) The series tracks agents of the French intelligence agency. There are five seasons (50 episodes!), based partly on real stories from former spies, and focusing on deep-cover, long-term missions. It was great! There’s also a newer American adaptation of the series called THE AGENCY (changed to THE AGENCY: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE), which is also good. It’s first season ran in 2024 on Showtime and Paramount+, with season two expected this year. It was produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, with stars including Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Richard Gere. Enjoy!
Thanks Al! Readers, keep on reading to find out more about Al and his book, BODY MAN.
About Al Pessin
Al Pessin is a former member of the White House and Pentagon press corps, a 15-year foreign correspondent, and the multi-award-winning author of the political thriller Body Man from Amphorae Publishing.
Al’s previous books, all award winners, are international military spy thrillers Sandblast, Blowback, and Shock Wave from Kensington Publishing. All his books build on Al’s decades of experience covering the highest echelons of Washington as well as some of the world’s most desperate conflicts and most hopeful and inspiring moments. As a correspondent for Voice of America, Al was on the scene in Afghanistan and Iraq, at Southeast Asian refugee camps, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, the rally where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, and along streets devastated by terrorist bombs. He also reported to the world about uprisings in Beijing, Kyiv, Cairo, and Manila, as well as hope-filled elections in Egypt, Gaza, and Libya, among other places, indeed including the United States. Al was expelled from China in 1989 for his coverage of the Tiananmen Massacre, accused of “illegal news gathering” and “fomenting counterrevolutionary rebellion.” Among other honors, he was named Communicator of the Year for that coverage.
Al also wrote the two-act farce Murder at the Butcher’s, which won Play of the Year at the Royal Palm Literary Awards and had four sold-out performances in its premiere run in November, 2019. In all, his novels have won a Florida Book Award and six Royal Palm Literary Awards, as well as other recognition.
Al has led writing seminars for Writers Digest, BookFest, Broward County Libraries, Florida WritersCon, Delray Beach Writers Colony, and at many other online and in-person events. He also taught graduate-level journalism as an adjunct at Northwestern University, his alma mater. Al has published commentaries in several outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Politico, and DefenseOne. He blogged on writing for the Florida Writers Association, and his work has appeared in Writers Digest, Mystery Scene and other publications.
More about Al at www.alpessin.com, and via Substack @alpessin, “Al Pessin Author” on Facebook, alpessinauthor on Instagram, and @apessin on X.
About Body Man
Steve Berry says Body Man is “crisply plotted, thought-provoking and troubling in its take on our new reality.”
In this incredibly timely new political thriller, former White House and Pentagon press corps member and multi-award-winning author Al Pessin takes readers inside the corridors of power, on deployment with a Marine Corps unit, and into the secret world of militias willing to commit violence to “defend America.”
Jon Land calls Body Man “a taut, terrifying, terrific political thriller that cuts to the bone . . . an all-too-credible cautionary tale ripped from tomorrow’s headlines.”
Body Man reads like the true story it could easily be, told by its two main characters. Spencer is the Body Man, close personal aide to a liberal senator who catapults to the presidency. Carl is a body man of a different sort, a Marine Corps sniper with a bad conduct discharge who gets drawn into the Alt-Right movement and recruited to assassinate the new president.
As America’s real-life tensions explode, there are mass shootings, riots in the streets, and mutinies in the military―all things that could actually happen if we let them. And two young men have more power to determine the course of American history than they should ever have.
Body Man is a “chilling cautionary tale,” says NY Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker. “Al Pessin has done it again. Don’t miss this one from a terrific writer.”
