The Prodigal Spy - Softcover

Kanon, Joseph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0751561592 ISBN 13: 9780751561593

Publisher: Sphere, 2015

Synopsis

It is 1950 and communists are being hunted across America. When Walter Kotlar is accused of being a spy by the House Un-American Activities Committee, his young son Nick destroys a piece of evidence only he knows about. But before the hearing can conclude, Walter flees the country, leaving behind his family... and a key witness lying dead, apparently having committed suicide.

Nineteen years later, Nick gets a second chance to discover the truth when a beautiful journalist brings a message from his long-lost father, and Nick follows her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion and the discovery of a secret that changes everything. To unravel the lies Nick must return to where it all began and expose the one person who knew the truth - and who watched his family's destruction.

Trust no one in this compelling, surprising thriller from the author of Leaving Berlin and The Good German.

About this title

Review:

Joseph Kanon's debut thriller, Los Alamos, captivated readers and critics alike and was awarded the 1998 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The Prodigal Spy, set in the aftermath of the Manhattan Project, offers a glimpse at cold war espionage and a very personal story about theeffects of McCarthyism and the paranoia that it spawned. Once again, Kanon effortlessly weaves together history and fiction in prose that is thick with period details. The real achievement of the book, though, is the author's strong sense of his narrative centere, Nick Kotlar.

The novel begins in 1950 in the Kotlar home in Washington, D.C., as young Nick tries to make sense of the masses of reporters who have gathered outside his house. Though his parents struggle to shield him from the truth, he inadvertently sees a newsreel that reveals his father's predicament: State Department Undersecretary, Walter Kotlar, is under the intense scrutiny of Congressman Kenneth Welles of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Kanon perfectly captures the sensibilities of a child with a parent in peril; disbelieving Nick becomes a fledgling spy, trying to erase any clues in his home that might support Welles and his committee. But one night, after an explosive conversation with Nick's mother, his father disappears. That same night, the woman who had accused Walter Kotlar of spying commits suicide--or was she murdered? In 1953, Mr. Kotlar gives a press conference from Moscow announcing his defection. The book then moves to London in 1969, where Nick meets a young woman who tells him that not only is his father still alive but he has been keeping tabs on his son for the 19 years since he fled to the Soviet Union. This revelation draws Nick into a meeting with the seriously ill elder Kotlar and propels Nick into some intelligence gathering of his own--to uncover the man who caused Walter Kotlar's defection and who killed his father's accuser. With The Prodigal Spy, Kannon has once again breathed new life into spy fiction. --Patrick O'Kelley, Amazon.com

Review:

The Prodigal Spy is a mystery and a novel of ideas - Allan Massie It is Kanon's political maturity and understanding that make this novel something quite unusual - Scotsman A wonderfully fluent writer with a gift for honed dialogue - Observer That rare thing - a thriller to stimulate heart and mind - Daily Mail on The Good German

About this edition

• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0751561592
• ISBN 13: 9780751561593
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448