Red Widow

December 14, 2020
Lyndsey Duncan, one of two female CIA officers at the center of this quiet but gripping espionage thriller from Katsu (Hunger), has just returned to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., her reputation tainted by an affair she had with a British intelligence officer in Lebanon. Nonetheless, she’s assigned to check out rumors of a mole in the CIA’s Moscow operation. Lyndsey’s investigation eventually leads her to analyst Theresa Warner, who’s still reeling from the apparent death of her husband, an agency spy handler who disappeared in Russia two years earlier while on a mission. Theresa has discovered that her husband is still alive, in a Russian prison, and the CIA has been lying to her. An outraged Theresa has agreed to pass secrets to the Russians in exchange for the release of her husband. Katsu, a former intelligence analyst, captures the thorny but oddly intimate alliance between two CIA officers who share an adversarial relationship with their employer, while providing an intriguing look at the day-to-day office politics and jostling that goes on behind Langley’s walls. Best known for her novels of psychological terror, Katsu shows a sure hand at a new genre. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management.

February 1, 2021
CIA case officer Lyndsey Duncan is recalled to Washington in disgrace from her post in Beirut after having an affair with a colleague. She's placed on administrative leave pending a hearing that will determine her future with the agency. So she's shocked when her former boss asks her to carry out a clandestine investigation to determine if there's a mole in the agency's Russia Division. A few days later, Lyndsey learns that Yaromir Popov, a CIA double agent whom she handled earlier in her career, has died of poisoning on a flight from Moscow to Washington. Not only that, but another Russian, also a CIA asset, has been brutally killed, and a third is missing. Lyndsey sees this as a strong indication that there is indeed a mole in the CIA--someone who's betraying every Russian on the CIA roster. This fast-paced spy thriller offers a seemingly realistic look inside the CIA and raises plenty of questions about the ethics of spying. With a smart, plucky heroine; white-knuckle suspense; multiple twists; and a satisfying conclusion, this is a must for espionage fans.

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