Read more reviews in the Lion Eyes section of Claire's official site.

The Anniston Star

"I write fiction — and trust me: there is always some intersection between what you write and the truth."

This observation becomes a not-so-inconspicuous thread through Claire Berlinski's latest novel, Lion Eyes, in which Berlinski herself is the protagonist. After the publication of her previous spy novel, Loose Lips, critics noted an alarming accuracy in Berlinski's observations of the CIA, leaving more than one reader wondering how much of the novel was indeed fiction.

Berlinski reminds readers of this question in Lion Eyes by beginning each chapter with a blurb from a critic of Loose Lips wondering whether Berlinski was ever an insider at the agency.

In fact, the entire premise of the book seems to ridicule this notion as she relays the daily, sometimes humdrum, escapades of an author of spy novels — who, coincidentally, finds herself mixed up in a CIA recruitment operation.

The novel opens by catching the reader up on fictionalized narrator Berlinski's life since the publication of Loose Lips. She spends hours a day at the computer in her cramped Parisian apartment, trying to work on another book. In lieu of staring at a blank screen, she finds herself surfing the Internet and e-mailing old friends to feel as if she's doing something productive.

It is in front of her computer that she falls for a mysterious Iranian archaeologist named Arsalan through a series of e-mails. This seemingly innocent correspondence leads to a stint in Istanbul and a CIA mix-up, culminating in a bizarre dinner party that unites Berlinski with an oddball psychologist, an undercover CIA agent, a woman posing as a man dating a woman who doesn't know the truth, and Arsalan and his temperamental cat.

This is not a high-stakes, cutting-edge thriller a la Bourne Identity; it's a refreshing look at the mysteries of the CIA and the Internet through Berlinski's entertaining commentary. Its charm comes from quirky characters, witty observations and what occasionally seems to be an aimlessly meandering plot.

For example, in describing Paris, Berlinski writes, "Bertrand Delanoe, the first openly gay mayor of Paris, had transformed the banks of the Seine for the summer into a faux beach. Two thousand tons of sand, potted palm trees, little cafe tables, and parasols ... . The press kept talking about what a terrific, openly gay idea this was."

Berlinski's characters are clever as well; the CIA operatives she befriends are hardly the stereotypical "cloak-and-dagger" spies. Her old neighbor Charlene is a talkative, brassy black woman bringing a very public discrimination lawsuit against the agency.

And in Istanbul, Berlinski meets an undercover operative whose husband cooks the meals and buys his wife pet turtles. (The husband later wants to write a tell-all novel about his life as a CIA spouse — complete with cooking recipes from each country they've lived in.)

Yet in the end, Berlinski seems to get to the heart of the intrigue of the CIA — that we can never be quite sure of anything.

Lindsay Maples is a graduate of the University of Alabama who lives in Mobile and works as a copy editor at the Mobile Press-Register.

The Boston Globe

Claire Berlinski deftly blends comedy, intrigue, and romance in Lion Eyes, her second novel, a cleverly constructed story about self-delusion and betrayal. According to a short preface, the plot was inspired by an extended e-mail correspondence with an admirer of Loose Lips, Berlinski's first novel, about a female CIA trainee. Lion Eyes, she explains, is an attempt to reconstruct, "to my own satisfaction, how I, an intelligent, well-educated, professional woman in my thirties," became "powerfully in the thrall" of a man who, as it turned out, was not whom she imagined him to be.

It's unclear where reality leaves off and fiction begins, not that it matters. The fictional narrator, a Paris-based American writer who happens to be named Claire Berlinski, receives an e-mail from Arsalan, an Iranian archeologist who has read the first chapter of Loose Lips on the Internet and asks for her help in obtaining a copy of the book. Claire obliges, which leads to more e-mail exchanges. At Arsalan's suggestion, Claire agrees to exchange apartments with a colleague of his who lives in Istanbul, where she meets Sally, a CIA agent who wants an introduction to Arsalan. Claire reluctantly brings them together after she moves back to Paris, and arranges a dinner party for all her oddball friends. It's a disaster, hilariously described. Berlinski has created a wonderful supporting cast of eccentrics whose capacity for creative self-delusion mirrors that of her narrator. Her eloquent descriptions of Paris and Istanbul add a lovely dimension to this most entertaining novel.

Saint Louis Dispatch

Claire Berlinski's first novel, Loose Lips, garnered lots of attention for its inside views of the CIA and a heroine who, one critic wrote, "would make the 'Sex and the City' girls proud." Now, in a sequel of sorts, Berlinski gives us Lion Eyes, a novel about a writer named Claire, who recently published a book called Loose Lips. It may sound like a Borgesian fish-swallowing-its-own-tail kind of story, but once you stop trying to figure out what's real and what's fiction, you'll find yourself sliding comfortably into this engaging new novel.

Claire is living in Paris when she starts an e-mail romance with a man from Iran, an archaeologist with a flair for Persian poetry. Soon an encounter with a CIA operative in Istanbul leads her to question the identity of her new virtual-amour. And friends, including a therapist who views the world through Freud-colored glasses and Samantha, a fellow-writer living undercover as a man, offer advice as funny as it is off-mark.

Paris, perennial City of Love, is little more than a place to plug in a computer as Claire tries to build relationships the 21st-century way. A humorous foray into the world of modern romance, this novel will make e-daters think twice before hitting the send button.

Booklist

Reality and fiction mesh gracefully in this inventive follow-up to Berlinski's first novel, Loose Lips (2003). A fictional Claire Berlinski is the heroine of this tale, living in Paris after the publication of Loose Lips. When she gets an e-mail from a man named Arsalan who wants to order her book, she impulsively sends him a copy. They begin to correspond, and Claire finds the more she learns about Arsalan, a Persian archaeologist dedicated to preserving ancient artifacts in the Middle East, the more she's drawn to him. On a whim, she swaps apartments for several months with one of Arsalan's colleagues and moves to the vibrant city of Istanbul. But when a new friend claims to be a CIA agent who has been following her correspondence with Arsalan and wants to get in touch with him, Claire realizes she might be in for some real-life intrigue. Colorful and filled with memorable characters, this adventure is well worth the journey.

Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)

Narrated with verve and élan, Berlinski's sly second thriller flirts more with romance than danger. During the hot summer of 2003, a Paris-based American novelist named Claire Berlinski gets into an online affair with a Persian archeologist who may be a spy. According to the preface, something similar happened to the author. Arsalan (aka "the Lion"), who lives in Isfahan, Iran, admires the real author's debut about a female CIA trainee, Loose Lips (2003), and is sure Claire has actual CIA ties. At Arsalan's suggestion, Claire swaps apartments with a colleague of his in Istanbul, Turkey. There Claire meets a cheerful if less than competent CIA agent, Sally, who asks her help in getting to Arsalan. Claire and the zany supporting cast make this tale of thwarted intimacy-as overseen by the gimlet eye of the World Wide Web (and CIA) an entertaining example of what Claire calls the tantalizing "intersection between what you write and the truth." Keen social commentary on Paris and Istanbul adds to the fun. Berlinski is also the author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis Is America's, Too.

Reading Claire Berlinski's Lion Eyes (Ballantine) is like taking a vacation to Paris and Istanbul without having to pack. It's entertaining, romantic and has intriguing atmosphere.

— Joanne Collings, The Examiner