The Seventh Floor

August 12, 2024
Suspicions of a Russian mole circulating in the upper ranks of the CIA lie at the center of McCloskey’s middling sequel to Damascus Station, which reunites former spy Artemis Aphrodite Proctor with her onetime subordinate, Sam Joseph. Proctor, whose impulsive behavior has long alarmed her bosses, has just been fired, in part for engineering a foiled mission that led to Joseph’s capture and torture by the Russians. Now freed in a spy swap but sidelined by the CIA as damaged goods, Joseph approaches Proctor with his worry that a Russian spy has infiltrated the agency’s C-suite. Currently working as a wrangler at an alligator amusement park outside Orlando, Fla., Proctor examines the list of possible moles and agrees to help. Motivated by both patriotism and revenge, Proctor and Joseph set out to unmask the spy in a raucous search that stretches from the Las Vegas Strip to the French countryside. McCloskey, a former CIA analyst, layers the novel with the inside details of tradecraft that only a writer of his background could provide. The plot, however, feels more labored than in previous Proctor adventures, with long, saggy diversions that dilute the suspense. Though not without its charms, this is a marked step down from its predecessors. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron M. Priest Literary.