Catherine Raynes: The Seventh Floor, More or Less Maddy

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey  

A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat and run out of the service. Traded back in a spy swap, Sam appears at Procter's central Florida doorstep months later with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole hidden deep within the upper reaches of CIA. 

As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter's closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt soon requires Procter to dredge up her own checkered past in service of CIA, placing her and Sam into the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow's mole in Langley at all costs, even if it means wreaking bloody havoc across the United States. 

  

More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova  

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out student at NYU. Between exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it's normal to feel overwhelmed. It doesn't help that she's always been the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy's latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on antidepressants. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. 
 
As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at B new.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Talks a B twenty to twelve on your Saturday morning.
Katherine Rains has our book picks for this weekend. Cawader
Catherine Morning Jack. So, I'm a fan of the The
Rest Is Espionage podcast and one of the hosts of
The Rest Is Espionage is David McCloskey, a former CIA
agent who has also just written The Seventh Floor tell

(00:33):
Us about it.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
He has and the story begins with a Russian CIA
asset being arrested by some of Putin's men and a
CIA officer, Sam Joseph, at the same time as kidnapped
by Russian operatives, and he'd been having this conversation cleanderestine
conversation with an asset who said shared this mole secret
with him, and the Russian asset ends up committing suicide

(00:55):
before he can be questioned, but Sam is forced to
undergo a significant amount of torture, and then he's finally
traded back to the CIA for a Russian spy who
was being held. And then meanwhile this other character, a
woman called Adamis Proctor and she's five foot tall, she's tattooed,
she has a drinking problem, and she's very tough both
inside and outside. She's a very take no prisoner's persona,

(01:16):
and she's worked for the CIA for a very long
time along with a tight new group of operatives, at
one of whom Sam is and they live on the
from a seventh floor secret missions until meetings, work together,
fight together, and look out for each other. And then
she's forced to resign due to her involvement in Sam's operation,
so she makes a complete capoia change and heads Frida

(01:39):
to work in an alligator tourist trap as they called,
wrestling gators and entertaining the crowds. And then Sam pays
her a visit at the gate of Farm and shares
the secret of all and they decide to team up
together and hunt the mole down. And it's a very
well written spy novel. It has great tension. You're never
quite sure who the mole is until the very end

(02:00):
s lots of bombshells in the story. The characters are
complex and interesting and very explosive storylines, and with David
mccloskey's background, you can understand why and it keeps your
hooked wonderful.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, that sounds great. That's the Seventh Floor by David
McCloskey in Great News. He's going to be Francesca's special
guest on the Sunday session tomorrow morning, So tune into newsborks,
he'd be tomorrow to here author and former CIA agent
David McCloskey. Right next up, More or Less Maddie by
Lisa Genova.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
So, Maddie's story is one of high's and lows. And
she's a college kid just trying to figure life out,
and she wants a happy life to follow her passions,
and her life has taken a turn, making her hard
to pursue these passions of writing and filmmaking. And she
comes from this very well off country club kinetic family,
and she's youngest of three and her older sister, Emily,

(02:51):
is engaged to be married. And Maddie has this very
strange relationship with her mother, who babies her and doesn't
quite know how to control her disorder, which is by
polar And so you see the realities of Maddie's bi
polar condition and you can feel her confusion, vulnerabilities, the
euphoria she has, the despair, and when she's longed for
the normalcy and stability and the freedom to follow her passions.

(03:15):
And the story delves into how her condition impacts the family.
She's grappling with shame and fear and helplessness and all
sorts of emotions, and it is completely captivating and it
has soul and empathy and very raw and emotional, and
it's one of those books that keep you thinking long
after you've turned the last page. And Lisa Genova, the author,

(03:36):
is a neuroscientist, so I think she delves very well
into the subject that she's talking about, and you really
feel like you're part of the story and it's just yeah,
she writes in a fabulous way that kind of engrosses
you into it.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Superb okay, And that's more or less Maddie by Lisa
Genover or Jennefer, the first book from Catherine There The
Seventh Floor by David McCloskey. He'll be with us on
the Sunday Session tomorrow morning. Both of those books, all
the details. News Dog zedb dot co dot nz is
the place to go. Sixteen to twelve. We've got that
new music from ninety a red.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
For you Me for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to news Talks at B from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio