A remarkable tale that makes espionage rousing, demanding, and occasionally terrifying.
An intelligence operative becomes the unwitting pawn of an American agency seeking vital information on a potential terrorist in this debut thriller.
The Executive Covert Agency is focused on Mihai Cuza, a dangerous man planning to discredit the Romanian government. As this likely entails terrorist activity, the ECA has an agent close to Cuza. The spy manages to send the agency a list of 15 towns around the world, each home to a nuclear power plant. Cuza is surely plotting something nefarious, but ECA agent Nikolai Ivanovich “Kolya” Petrov discovers a more immediate concern. As Cuza has unmasked several agents, there must be a leak, which Kolya narrows down to one of three people on the Intelligence Committee. ECA head Margaret Bradford wants to identify the mole but also has another scheme in the works: tricking Cuza into downloading a Trojan horse on his seemingly unhackable computer. She sends an oblivious Kolya on a standard mission, hoping that Cuza will kidnap the agent and coerce him into accessing ECA’s site (where a Trojan horse awaits). As Kolya will likely resist torture, Bradford ensures the mole somehow learns about the agent’s lawyer girlfriend, Alex Feinstein, whom Cuza subsequently abducts to use as leverage. Jonathan Egan, Kolya’s friend and frequent ECA partner, teams up with others to find his fellow agent despite an early report that Kolya has died. As Jonathan and Kolya gradually realize that Bradford has deliberately arranged the abductions, they contemplate revenge—although making sure Kolya and Alex survive their predicaments comes first.
The bulk of Manning’s espionage tale, which shifts between various perspectives, centers on individuals searching for Kolya or keeping him captive. As such, the action is minimal but striking: Kolya does not make an easy target for kidnappers, and Alex proves more than capable when it appears escape is viable. Readers will sympathize with Kolya, especially since Bradford puts him in harm’s way even after acknowledging he’s one of ECA’s best agents. Moreover, the Russian Jewish immigrant is a skilled jazz pianist who distracts himself from his harrowing experience by playing musical pieces in his head. The torture Kolya endures is unsurprisingly violent but never excessive or exceedingly graphic. Still, Cuza’s preferred method of homicide is particularly cruel and brutal. Manning thankfully describes it only once, and subsequent mentions of the act are enough to rack up the tension, as it may befall the protagonist. The story’s spies and villains are appropriately complex and unpredictable. Bradford, for example, isn’t the only one at ECA who betrays Kolya, and some aligned with Cuza don’t necessarily agree with his plan to torture the agent into submission. Some readers may question certain plot points, including that it seems every character is aware of ECA, “an agency that few knew existed,” as well as flawed technological jargon (for example, software downloaded to a computer rather than uploaded). But these are relatively minor stumbles in an otherwise bracing narrative. Though this could easily be a stand-alone novel, the engaging volume is the start of a series.
A remarkable tale that makes espionage rousing, demanding, and occasionally terrifying.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64599-102-1
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Encircle Publications, LLC
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250337788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
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