Defectors

April 3, 2017
Edgar-winner Kanon’s fast-moving, well-written espionage thriller offers few surprises for genre devotees. In 1949, after Frank Weeks, who worked for the Central Intelligence Group’s Office of Policy Coordination, was unmasked as a Soviet spy, his brother and confidante, Simon, was forced to resign from the State Department. Simon landed on his feet when he was hired by M. Keating & Sons, a publishing company he ends up running. In 1961, the brothers reunite in Moscow. Frank is writing his memoirs, which are to be published by M. Keating, and he’s asked his sibling to help him complete the book. Given that Frank cost Simon his career, the reunion is awkward, and their interactions are roiled further by Simon’s renewed connection with Frank’s wife, an old flame of his. Things get messier when Frank seeks to use Simon again, involving him in a complex scheme that leads to violence. As always, Kanon (Los Alamos) gets his period detail right and conveys the setting vividly, even if the characters’ depth isn’t at the same level as in his better outings. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM Partners.

Starred review from April 1, 2017
In 1949, CIA agent Frank Weeks was exposed as a Communist spy and defected to the Soviet Union. A dozen years later, his brother, Simon, a publisher, gets into deep trouble when he travels to Moscow to work on Frank's memoir.A memoir from "the man who betrayed a generation" is guaranteed to be an international bestseller--even if, as approved by the KGB, it will be full of omissions, half-truths, and fabrications. A born charmer--smart, irreverent, and brilliantly persuasive--Frank has mastered the art of self-preservation. Playing on his younger sibling's love for him, he draws Simon into a dangerous scheme he swears is motivated by a desire to save his wife, Joanna, from her deepening depression. Simon was once involved with Joanna and still has feelings for her. Recruited by Frank as an OSS intelligence analyst during World War II--and forced to resign his subsequent job at the State Department after Frank's cover was blown--Simon now finds himself caught between two worlds. The deeper he's pulled into his brother's orbit, the more he's put in touch with a cold streak of his own. Most of these plot elements will be familiar to readers of John le Carre, Gerald Seymour, and other great spy novelists. But with his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone, Kanon transcends the form. In its subtly romanticized treatment of compromised lives, this book is even better than his terrific previous effort, Leaving Berlin (2015). A blend of Spy vs. Spy and sibling vs. sibling (not since le Carre's A Perfect Spy has there been a family of spooks to rival this one), Kanon reaffirms his status as one of the very best writers in the genre.

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April 15, 2017

Boston publisher Simon Weeks has come to Moscow in the spring of 1961 to edit his brother Frank's memoirs. Twelve years earlier, Frank, a CIA agent facing exposure as a Communist spy, defected to the Soviet Union. His memoirs, however, are not a mea culpa but what the KGB calls an "active measure"--a book that will cast them in a positive light. Frank, in fact, is an officer in the KGB and has long been considered a hero for his service training Russian spies in the ways of the West. To Simon's surprise, Frank claims he wants to return to the United States, saying his wife, Joanna, who had a fling with Simon before she fell for Frank, can no longer take their diminished life in Moscow. Under the watchful eye of his KGB handler and surrounded by other defectors, Simon gets drawn into his brother's intrigues. Does Frank really plan on taking Joanna with him in a daring escape, or does he have other schemes in mind? Kanon's eighth novel (after Leaving Berlin) is a finely paced Cold War thriller with his usual flair for atmospheric detail, intriguing characters, and suspenseful action. VERDICT Fans of intelligent suspense (think John Le Carré, Robert Littell, Charles McCarry, or Alan Furst) will enjoy trying to figure out whom is deceiving whom. [See Prepub Alert, 12/19/16.]--Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 4, 2017
It’s a pleasure to listen to actor Lloyd read this spy novel set in Europe in 1949. He manages Russian, Polish, and British accents that are convincing but not exaggerated. His pace is slow enough to be clear but quick enough to carry us along with Kanon’s fast-paced, if improbable, plot. Without becoming melodramatic, Lloyd conveys the narrative’s tension as the KGB and CIA commit treachery and murder. Through careful alterations of tone he reveals the deep fondness that protagonist Simon Weeks, a former State Department official turned book publisher, feels for his apparently double-defector brother, Frank, and his panic at finding himself engaged in violence and espionage because of Frank’s subtle and self-serving manipulation. The listener may have trouble suspending disbelief, but the story is fun, and Lloyd has narration down to a balanced and fine art. An Atria hardcover.