THE SILK ROAD AFFAIR

Two American agents are sent to China to investigate a major art theft in Witham’s international thriller.

When a Vermeer painting that was pilfered from the Gardner Museum in Boston 30 years ago suddenly resurfaces in China,the entire alphabet soup of American agencies takes notice. However, given the enormous stress the situation places on diplomatic detente, any attempt to recover the art must conducted with great stealth and delicacy, a complex predicament lucidly portrayed by the author in this scrupulously researched novel. The CIA sends two agents, Julian Peale and Grace Ho; the former is a military veteran who served in Afghanistan, the latter a first-generation Chinese-American (she prefers American-Chinese) who was trained by the Marines. Both have a deep knowledge of art history. Julian and Grace must manage the “interagency wrangle” they step into—the competitive jostling of various intelligence groups, American and otherwise—as well as the complexity of China’s own internecine disputes. Witham’s comprehension of Chinese culture and all of its entangled nuances is extraordinary—if nothing else, this novel is an impressive feat of scholarship. He demonstrates a similarly powerful command of art history, which is absolutely essential to the plot. The complexity of the characters is welcome—the author develops his principal players into fully realized human beings driven by multiple motivations. Art dealer Quang Daiyu, who runs the Silk Road Company, is marvelously dynamic—she is often moved by the simple pursuit of wealth, the means by which one can “buy freedom and privilege” in a China as godless as she is. However, she also sees herself as belonging to a royal line that stretches back to the days of China’s cultural dominance, a position she desperately wants to restore. This is an intellectually subtle but highly readable thriller, one that entertains without resorting to cheap formula or authorial condescension.

A political thriller as engrossing as it is thoughtful.