{"podcast":{"title":"Spybrary Spy Podcast","slug":"spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831","podcast_index_feed_id":1039831,"rss_url":"https://spybrary.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://spybrary.libsyn.com/website","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/0/9/2/f/092f17f74ce0e9ec16c3140a3186d450/Spybrary_1400-20230726-k1ylcto5wp.jpg","author":"Shane Whaley","episode_count":301,"summary":"Spybrary is a podcast for fans of spy books, spy tv and spy movies since 2017. We bring you author interviews and reader discussions on our favorite spy books and novels.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-24T08:20:56.536235+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831"},"episode":{"title":"Is this David McCloskey's Boldest Spy Novel Yet?","slug":"is-this-david-mccloskey-s-boldest-spy-novel-yet","published_at":"2026-01-22T16:49:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831/is-this-david-mccloskey-s-boldest-spy-novel-yet","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831","url":"https://spybrary.libsyn.com/is-this-david-mccloskeys-boldest-spy-novel-yet","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/spybrary/McCloskeyThePersian.mp3?dest-id=508140","summary":"On this riveting episode of the Spybrary Spy podcast, British political journalist Tim Shipman is once again in conversation with David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst turned novelist, discussing his fourth and most ambitious book yet, The Persian . Departing from his CIA-rooted earlier work, McCloskey dives into the morally murky waters of the Israeli-Iranian shadow war. The novel, a high-stakes standalone thriller, follows a Mossad operation and an Iranian-born dentist-turned-reluctant-spy. They discuss the challenges of writing beyond American intelligence, the process of accessing former Mossad officers for research, the rich culture and contradictions of Iran, and the psychological complexity of agent-handler relationships. The episode also teases McCloskey's next book, the return of Artemis Proctor, and exciting developments for screen adaptations. So what is The Persian by David McCloskey all about, Shane? Kamran Esfahani, a dentist living out a dreary existence in Stockholm, agrees to spy for the Mossad after he's recruited by Arik Glitzman, the chief of a clandestine unit tasked with running targeted assassinations and sabotage inside Iran. At Glitzman's direction, Kam returns to his native Tehran and opens a dental practice there, using it as a cover for the Israeli intelligence agency. Kam proves to be a skillful asset, quietly earning money helping Glitzman smuggle weapons, run surveillance, and conduct kidnappings. But when Kam tries to recruit an Iranian widow seeking to avenge the death of her husband at the hands of the Mossad, the operation goes terribly wrong, landing him in prison under the watchful eye of a sadistic officer whom he knows only as the \"General.\" And now, after enduring three years of torture in captivity, Kamran Esfahani sits in an in…","meta_description":"On this riveting episode of the Spybrary Spy podcast, British political journalist Tim Shipman is once again in conversation with David McCloskey, a forme…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2753,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831/episodes/is-this-david-mccloskey-s-boldest-spy-novel-yet/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/spybrary-spy-podcast-1039831/is-this-david-mccloskey-s-boldest-spy-novel-yet.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}