In this review for The Wall Street Journal, Mark Yost assesses Elliot Ackerman's thriller "Sheepdogs," in which Jay "Skwerl" Manning, a former CIA Ground Branch operative, and Big Cheese Aziz, an Afghan special-operations pilot, find a seemingly simple plan to steal a private jet spiraling into a global game of cat and mouse.

A Heist That Goes Sideways

Yost credits Ackerman, a highly decorated Marine and CIA operative before he became a novelist, with recounting the mission's unraveling so convincingly it reads "almost as if he is merely describing real-life adventures."

A Cast Out of Spy-Novel Central Casting

The review surveys the novel's supporting cast, from Mac, a former Marine Raider turned defense-sector executive, to Uncle Tony, a Navy SEAL running Skwerl's old CIA unit, to the unseen mastermind known only as Sheepdog.

The Afghans Left Behind

Yost connects the novel's portrayal of Cheese and his pregnant wife, Fareeda, living hand-to-mouth outside Austin, to the recurring theme of Ackerman's 2022 nonfiction book "The Fifth Act": the Afghans who aided the U.S. and were failed by the 2021 withdrawal.

Read the Full Review

This review originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

Read “‘Sheepdogs’ Review: A Black-Ops Comedy of Errors” at The Wall Street Journal →