Double Agent
William Christie has written a
fast-paced spy thriller. His protagonist is Alexsi Smirnov, a street and desert
smart Azeri teenager who is very handy with a knife. He would ultimately become
a well-placed KGB agent inside the Abwehr. Smirnov is a library educated autodidact
who is fluent in Russian, Farsi and German. We trace his adventure from being a
teenage smuggler in the Trans Caucasus to his capture by Russian authorities
that sends him to a prison/orphanage where he spotted as potential spy materiel.
From the orphanage he is transported to
KGB headquarters in Lubyanka prison. There under the tutelage of a master spy
he is groomed to enter Germany by impersonating the nephew of a senior Nazi
diplomat. With the aid of his “uncle” he becomes an intelligence officer in the
Abwehr where he discovers Hitler’s plans to invade Russia. Of course Stalin does
not believe the report he files.
Later in the book Smirnov becomes involved
in the mythical plot (Operation Long Jump) to assassinate the Big 3 at Tehran
led by the Germany’s star commando Otto Skorzeny. This plot has been the
subject of more than a few spy novels.
Along the way Christie paints a very
realistic picture of life in 1930s Russia and wartime Germany. “A Single Spy”
is well worth the read!
The full Amazon URL is: https://www.amazon.com/review/R21JL2BXCUEPEM/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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