Fic­tion

Choice of Enemies

M. A. Richards
May 3, 2016

Choice of Ene­mies is the first nov­el in a series of inter­na­tion­al espi­onage nov­els fea­tur­ing Nathan Mon­sar­rat, a retired CIA deep cov­er oper­a­tive, is a nov­el of greed, betray­al, and loy­al­ty. Filled with a rich col­lec­tion of char­ac­ters includ­ing Solomon Grin­nell, a Has­sidic Man­hat­tan dia­mond deal­er, and Masha Krup­nik, a beau­ti­ful Jew­ish-Russ­ian mafia chief who con­trols the crim­i­nal activ­i­ty in Cape Town, the nov­el com­bines the sen­si­bil­i­ties of Bernard Mala­mud with the plots of Daniel Sil­va. From the per­fid­i­ous office suites of Lan­g­ley to the oil soaked Delta train­ing base of Niger­ian ter­ror­ists to the bucol­ic hills of west­ern Mass­a­chu­setts to the the deserts of cen­tral Namib­ia, Choice of Ene­mies offers fast-paced action with a healthy dose of yid­dishe kopf.

Discussion Questions

Cour­tesy of M.A. Richards

  • Dis­cuss the choice of title. Why do you think Richards picked a quote by Oscar Wilde? Does the title impart a message?

  • Do you think Richards wrote a sim­ple spy sto­ry with heroes and vil­lains, or is there a deep­er mes­sage in the nov­el? If so, what is the message?

  • What is the impor­tance of cur­rent events in the nov­el? How close­ly does the nov­el fol­low the impor­tant issues of oil sup­plies, ter­ror­ism, and CIA activities?

  • Do you believe that the CIA and Amer­i­can oil com­pa­nies cur­rent­ly work togeth­er ( and have in the past) to secure the flow of oil? Can you dis­cuss exam­ples – and the out­comes of the collaboration(s) for the secu­ri­ty of the Unit­ed States?

  • In an inter­view, Richards said he writes with a ​“Yid­dish sen­si­bil­i­ty.” Can you dis­cuss exam­ples in the novel?

  • Do you think it is pos­si­ble for a Jew­ish author to write a Jew­ish nov­el with­out a Jew­ish hero? Can you con­sid­er a nov­el to be Jew­ish if the hero is a ​“right­eous gen­tile” who strug­gles under a set of Jew­ish ethics?

  • Richards worked for the gov­ern­ment of the Unit­ed States for almost thir­ty years, the major­i­ty as a Cul­tur­al Attaché for the Depart­ment of State, and also as an advi­sor to the four star admi­ral in charge of Pacif­ic Com­mand in Hon­olu­lu. Dis­cuss how these expe­ri­ences lend authen­tic­i­ty to the novel.

  • Why do you think Richards gave his antag­o­nist three sets of iden­ti­ty (in order of appear­ance): Felix San­hedrin, Fineghan Scar­nagh, and Franklin Seleu­cid? Why so many names? What is the sig­nif­i­cance of choos­ing San­hedrin and Seleu­cid as surnames?

  • What is the cen­tral role of Solomon Grin­nell in the nov­el, oth­er than as a fix­er? Do you think he plays a moral fig­ure in the novel?

  • Do you believe there are more ​“good” peo­ple than ​“bad” peo­ple in the nov­el? Dis­cuss if ​“good” tri­umphs over ​“evil” in the nov­el – or do they play to a draw? Is the strug­gle between ​“good” and ​“evil” still an impor­tant aspect of the Jew­ish novel?


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