MICHAEL WESTEN

Michael Westen is a contract agent for the CIA.

Initially the actual agency name is never mentioned in the books or in the television series, Burn Notice, from which the books were based but as the series progresses, the coyness of mentioning the CIA departs.

After many years as a highly respected and very capable career, Westen finds himself suddenly blacklisted by his employer who issued a "burn notice" on him. In the parlance of that agency, this means that he is out of work, bank accounts frozen, without the protection of his colleagues, and stuck in his home town of Miami Beach.

As he struggles to learn why he was fired and who was behind his drastic denouement, Westen takes odd jobs around the metropolitan area, often in aid of someone without the ability to protect him or herself. Though used to working alone, Westen has learned to call frequently upon the aid of his old friends; Sam Axe, a retired agent, Fiona, an Irish beauty who has loved Westen for years, and even his mother, a chain-smoking widow who has a wonderful air of naïveté about her which makes considerable wisdom and determination.

Through time, we learn much about Westen. We find that he was the older of two sons of a drunken bully who beat the two and their mother with little provocation. His mother, a sturdy, strong-willed woman was determined to stay alive and keep her sons that way as well but when Westen reached adulthood, he left as quickly as he could. One of the first things he did when he started to work for the government as an agent was to learn how to defend himself, determined to never be the target of a bully again. His skills at hand-to-hand combat became almost legendary and he has black belts in at least two disciplines. His knowledge of explosives, both professionally made and improvised is phenomenal and his shooting skills are among the best.

Best of all for his longevity is his incredible ability to think on his feet. Knowing no plan ever survives the first encounter with the opposition, he is able to weigh the situation and alter the plan as needed. Without that skill, he and his compatriots would have been dead long ago.

The recorded adventures in the pages of the books recount his different activities as he lives in Miami Beach and tries to survive long enough to learn who burned him and why. The adventures in the television episodes go far beyond that as he works to uncover the truth and, when he finally does that, to get his old job back.

I became a fan of Michael Westen from the first episode. I had liked the lead actor, Jeffrey Donovan, in Touching Evil, a crime drama that did not get the appreciation it deserved, and really enjoyed his comedic skills in Bait. Since this was a new spy series, I was already predisposed to like it but I would have anyways because the concept was so terrific: a spy who takes on bad guys. That and the show had a terrific supporting character is Fiona Glenanne, a feisty a woman as anyone could want and no one could handle. She was played by the delectable Gabrielle Anwar so I was hooked. Sharon Gless added gravitas to the series because she does nothing badly. And Bruce Campbell, a legend already, played Sam Axe. What was not to like.

Seven seasons the show has been running and I have not missed an episode.

Regarding the books, I have not been a big fan of books written about television shows as the books are usually not considered part of the official "canon" and as such cannot take the characters anywhere the TV show hasn't already. But since the concept of the show is that Westen takes cases helping people as he tries to get his old life back, it is possible to view the book plots as just jobs the show didn't cover.

They are very fast reads but really only for those who are big fans of the show. Mr. Goldberg does a good job, though. The grade is for the overall concept of a book series that cannot alter the character in any way, not for the job that Mr. Goldberg does.