The Crime Warp

My first Joseph Kanon book was Los Alamos – more years ago than I care to remember!   I loved the atmosphere of secrecy – the book was set in the Manhattan Project, so one big secret hid another secret - murder.   The protagonist’s affair with a scientist's wife added more layers of lies and duplicity to the plot.   I just loved it.   Kanon’s books all have a dark noirish atmosphere about them and when I saw details of his latest book Defectors , it became a must read for me. So, what’s it about?   Defectors is set in the 1960s, Simon Weeks’ brother Frank is an American defector living in Moscow, with his wife Jo.   Frank has decided to write his memoirs and asked Simon to publish and promote his book.   Simon flies to Moscow to meet Frank face to face, quickly realising that the book is a cover for Frank’s latest manipulative scheme.   Frank uses his charm, psychology and Simon’s remaining goodwill to put his plan into practice, bu...

Need You Dead is number 13 in Peter James’ highly successful Roy Grace series.   I’ve followed Peter James for some time now.   He’s an author that’s genuinely at the top of his game and Need You Dead doesn’t disappoint.     I loved the idea behind the story in Need You Dead – a body in a bath – there’s something almost quaintly old fashioned about this idea, especially as at first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. However, as Grace looks carefully at the case, a number of plausible scenarios present themselves, until an unexpected turn of events makes the case more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined. Roy Grace is the central character of Peter James' successful 13 book series and, for those blog tourists that don’t know him, here’s a peek at his file! I thoroughly recommend Need You Dead and you can read some of my previous reviews of Peter James’ novels, as well as an interview with Peter James hims...

A while ago I reviewed Spook Street by Mick Herron, and when I came across Deep Undercover , I thought that a book about real life espionage would be an interesting read. Jack Barsky’s real name is Albrecht Dittrich, an East German who was studying to be a chemistry professor, when in 1970 the East German authorities asked him to become a spy.   The KGB trained him to be an undercover agent in America, whose mission was to become integrated into American society and get close to the national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.    Once in America, Barsky was basically left to fend for himself.   His first job was as a bicycle courier, with night school learning to be a computer programmer, working his way up in a life insurance company through diligence and talent.   His cover was compromised in 1988, but he refused to leave America because of his American family and was eventually caught by the FBI.   Barsky provided the FBI with info...