Red to Black

June 15, 2009
The pseudonymous Dryden, a British journalist, eschews both technological marvels and implausible action scenes in his absorbing debut, a spy thriller that exposes the links between the “old” Russia of the Cold War and the “new” Russia of Vladimir Putin. In 1999, Anna, a colonel in the Russian foreign intelligence service, becomes romantically involved with Finn, an MI6 agent stationed in Moscow whom she deliberately targets for seduction. Meanwhile, Finn has learned of “the Plan,” a long-nurtured and fiercely guarded scheme to undermine the West. Finn and Anna each play a decade-long and dangerous double game as they seek to uncover incontrovertible proof that will thwart the Plan and allow them to leave intelligence work together without fear of reprisals. The detailed accounts of the financial maneuverings of the KGB and its successor, the FSB, are mind-boggling. Despite lackluster prose, Dryden's fact-based scenario provides worrisome food for thought.

This love story is disguised as a spy story, or vice versa. A little slow to take off, the novel does get interesting after a few chapters. British narrator Anne Flosnik keeps the listener involved as she smoothly portrays Russian and British spymasters, with all their vocal nuances. Finn is a British spy; Anna, a Russian spy. They use each other in every sense of the word and somehow fall in love. Author Dryden (his name is reportedly a pseudonym for a British journalist) writes a credible book about the spy's life: mostly dull reports, speculation, and trying to please the bosses, who often don't want the truth. It all sounds real. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine