Short Takes: Spy Thrillers

The modern spy novel started with W. Somerset Maugham's 1928 Ashenden: Or the British Agent. If, as assumed, Maugham modeled Ashenden's adventures on his own experiences as a secret agent during World War I, the first modern spy in fiction would be 135 years old today. Ashenden's sucessors are still doing well, though today—indeed, since the 1930s—they operate in a less gentlemanly and vastly more dangerous world. Today's spy thrillers typically invoke the gray world and murky morality of Eric Ambler or Graham Greene rather than the flash and bravado of Ian Fleming's 007. Fortunately for us, John le Carré (A Most Wanted Man) still writes as gripping stories as ever, as does Charles McCarry (Christopher's Ghost), le Carré's rival for literary excellence. This spring two exceptional authors in the genre, David Ignatius and Alan Furst, published novels, The Increment and The Spies of Warsaw, respectively. The spy novel is alive and prospering, as this batch of summer thrillers demonstrates.

When Beck, now a single mom with a responsible career, hears that old flame Jericho Ainsley is dying, she drops her child with grandma and flies to the bedside. Suddenly, her life is on the line. Her ex-lover is also ex-CIA, ex-Department of Defense, and an ex-investment wizard. He has desperate secrets to protect even in the face of death itself. His family and associates warn Beck that Jericho has lost his marbles, but he drafts her into the front line to guard his intel. In a remote mountain hideaway, the characters battle for mastery of Jericho's assets—psychological, emotional, and tangible. Evoking notes of Helen MacInnes even as he updates for the PDA era, Carter confidently inhabits a female sensibility to portray ground zero at this grisly deathbed. VERDICT In his fourth fictional excursion (after Palace Council), Carter has acquired the Midas touch of good thrillers—plot, pace, and explosive ending. While this represents a switch for Carter from legal thrillers to espionage fiction, fans of his other novels may enjoy. An entertaining summer read.—Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA

Set in post-glasnost Russia and spilling into Western Europe, this superb debut novel by a pseudonymous British journalist tells the tale of star-crossed lovers who spy for opposing sides. Anna is a KGB colonel, Finn a spy for Britain's MI6. They meet in Moscow, where Anna is ordered to seduce him. Their superiors on both sides eavesdrop on their most intimate conversations; they can never trust that what they say won't come back to hurt them. They fall in love anyway and begin a covert campaign to halt Putin's efforts to use Russia's newfound oil wealth to dominate Europe. (Putin is definitely the bad guy here.) VERDICT This reviewer has never read a novel that captures so well what it must be like to live in a world where one party constantly lies to the other, knowing the other will see it as a lie and lie back in return. An exceptional novel by any standard; readers who enjoy a love story mixed with their espionage (à la le Carré's The Little Drummer Girl) will appreciate. [Library marketing; previewed in Wilda Williams's "The Great Escape," LJ 4/15/09 and Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/09.—Ed.]—DK

In 1970, British agent Paul Dark is called upon to unearth a double agent in MI6. But he is the double agent. Soon he is on the run from both MI6 and the KGB. Disobeying orders, Paul flies to Nigeria in the midst of the Biafran civil war. If he wants to avoid exposure, he must find and kill the woman he loved—and thought had died—25 years years before. VERDICT This debut novel, the first in a trilogy featuring Paul Dark, is superior fiction, with an unexpected twist.—DK

History professor Nat Turnbull, who specializes in the German resistance, is called in to examine four boxes of World War II archives stolen by his onetime mentor. But key files are missing from the boxes. When his mentor is found dead in jail, the FBI hires Nat to track down the missing files. The trail turns out to be dangerous, as an aging Berlin arms dealer fights to hide evidence of his collaboration with the Nazis. VERDICT Winner of the John Creasy Memorial Dagger Award and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, Fesperman (The Prisoner of Guantánamo) writes well. His characters are believable, and the strong and credible plot will especially appeal to fans of World War II espionage fiction. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/09.]—DK

In Gabbay's third historical thriller chronicling the deeds and derring-do of CIA agent Jack Teller (after The Lisbon Crossing and The Berlin Conspiracy), Jack returns to Tehran on a suicide mission to bust loose an Iranian asset who was once his friend from Iran's most forbidding prison. The narrative moves back and forth between the 1953 overthrow of Iran's left-leaning prime minister Mossadegh and the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. VERDICT This run-of-the-mill novel is light on characterization and so-so on plotting. A far superior thriller about Iran is David Ignatius's The Increment.—DK

National Review editor Lowry and novelist Korman (Swan Dive) collaborate on a potboiler about an Iranian plot to nuke us (or Israel, take your pick). When their plot fails, the terrorists poison New York with "dirty" radioactive material. The protagonist is a burnt-out journalist who hides his newfound conservative fervor behind a left-leaning mask in order to infiltrate a secret Iranian nuclear project. VERDICT This book is painfully overwritten, and all the liberals are credulous or gutless wonders, but the action is fast and furious. Over all, mediocre best describes this effort. Purchase only for demand.—DK