William Christie. (2017). A Single Spy. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

William Christie. 2017. A Single Spy. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

William Christie, A Single Spy. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2017.

William Christie. A Single Spy. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2017.

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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Christie, William
   • bioText: WILLIAM CHRISTIE is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a former Marine Corps infantry officer who commanded a number of units and served around the world. In addition to A Single Spy, he has written several other novels, published either under his own name or that of F.J. Chase.
   • name: William Christie

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Minotaur Books

publishDate

2017-04-25T00:00:00-04:00

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title

A Single Spy

fullDescription

"[A] panoramic, smart, hugely enjoyable thriller"—The New York Times Book Review

"A single spy—in the right place and at the right moment—may change the course of history."
Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Alexsi is caught by the NKVD and transported to Moscow. There, in the notorious headquarters of the secret police, he is given a choice: be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany under the identity of his best friend, the long lost nephew of a high ranking Nazi official, or disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka. For Alexsi, it's no choice at all.
Over the course of the next seven years, Alexsi has to live his role, that of the devoted nephew of a high Nazi official, and ultimately works for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm Canaris as an intelligence agent in the Abwehr. All the while, acting as a double agent—reporting back to the NKVD and avoiding detection by the Gestapo. Trapped between the implacable forces of two of the most notorious dictatorships in history, and truly loyal to no one but himself, Alexsi's goal remains the same—survival.
In 1943, Alexsi is chosen by the Gestapo to spearhead one of the most desperate operations of the war—to infiltrate the site of the upcoming Tehran conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and set them up to be assassinated. For Alexsi, it's the moment of truth; for the rest of the world, the future is at stake.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: New York Times
   • content:

     "Riveting."

2. • premium: False
   • source: Aspen Daily News
   • content: "If you enjoy the works of Alan Furst and Terry Hayes, great espionage thrillers with heart and intelligence, then you will love A Single Spy."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Bookish
   • content: "World War II history buffs, listen up: This one's for you...this is spy fiction of the highest order."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
   • content: "Part bildungsroman, part history lesson, part political exposé, Christie's enthralling novel defies expectations while striking all the chords that make spy fiction so enjoyable."
5. • premium: False
   • source: Library Journal (starred review)
   • content: "With detailed historical events, compelling characters, and plenty of heart-grabbing moments, this novel is intensely engaging from the first page."
6. • premium: False
   • source: Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of The Expats
   • content: "A superb spy novel, with a vast sweep across the Eastern Front of World War II, all told from the vantage of a single man fighting to survive, while also perhaps changing the course of history."
7. • premium: False
   • source: David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Ruler of the Night
   • content: "A rousing adventure saga and a first-rate spy novel. Exciting action scenes. Accurate espionage tradecraft. This irresistible historical thriller grabbed me with its fascinating depiction of little known, major events in WWII. Its unusual main character, a double agent for both the Soviets and the Nazis but looking out only for himself, is a wry deadly charmer."
8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     February 6, 2017
     Alexsi Smirnov, the engaging hero of this impressive spy thriller set in the 1930s and ’40s from Christie (The Warriors of God), grows up in Soviet Azerbaijan, where he becomes a master thief and a master cynic. An orphan, he’s adopted by the Shultzes, a family of German socialists who immigrate to the Soviet Union only to be annihilated in a purge. In 1936, the Russians capture the 16-year-old Alexsi and pack him off to Moscow. Spared Siberia because of his brains and his linguistic talents (Russian, Farsi, German), he becomes a Soviet spy. Alexsi’s mission is to pose as the surviving Shultz son, return to Germany and his well-to-do “uncle” (a high official in the German foreign ministry), then infiltrate Nazi intelligence. Christie deserves credit for making that unlikely scenario remotely believable. The larger plot, somewhat too slow in development, involves the famous meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in Tehran in 1943, but what carries the book is an intelligent understanding of political terrorism and the spy’s tradecraft. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates.

9. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from February 15, 2017
     Alexsi, the protagonist of Christie's latest novel, is a wily 16-year-old hustler and thief in 1930s Russia. After he is arrested, turned into a spy, and forced to become a Soviet double agent in Nazi Germany, his gift for self-preservation is tested to the max.The NKVD, the Soviet secret police, gives Alexsi no choice: he either does their bidding or gets disappeared in a Moscow prison cell. In various acts of self-defense, using a concealed knife, he has already demonstrated his capacity for violence. And he speaks German. But he needs to be trained in other areas--including on-the-job sex. "In order to achieve longevity you must think of something that repels you," his instructor tells him, preparing to demonstrate on a helpless peasant girl. Following his training, the Russians send him to Munich, where, assuming the identity of the long-missing nephew of a top Nazi official, he puts his prized ability to impersonate Germans among native Germans to use. After surviving the invasion of Czechoslovakia with a Prussian Berlin infantry unit, he is assigned to military intelligence in Berlin. There, he works under unsuspecting intelligence legend Wilhelm Canaris. Even as Alexsi is sending coded messages about German military plans back to the Russians, he is assigned by his German superiors to infiltrate the 1943 Tehran conference attended by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin--and orchestrate their assassinations. Inspired by an unsubstantiated but tantalizing account detailing this alleged plot, dubbed Operation Long Jump, Christie makes the story believable while treating readers to the escapist pleasures of imaginative fiction. The book gathers steam early on when, escaping a skirmish between Russian and Iranian Shahsavan forces in Soviet Azerbaijan, young Alexsi is awed by the " paths of light in the darkness" created by newfangled Russian machine guns. Christie never squanders that momentum. Alexsi may be an opportunist, but the jaded quality that characterizes many spy novels is nowhere to be found. Part bildungsroman, part history lesson, part political expose, Christie's enthralling novel defies expectations while striking all the chords that make spy fiction so enjoyable.

     COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

10. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      Starred review from January 1, 2017
      

      Usually an author of contemporary military thrillers, Christie (Threat Level; The Enemy Inside) addresses in his new novel an ostensible moment of historical espionage, dropped as an aside in a military history, in which a secret double agent thwarted a Nazi attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at the 1943 Tehran conference. This is the story of young Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, surviving on his vast skills as a thief in 1936 Azerbaijan. Fast-forward past a few surprises, and Alexsi has become a member of the Soviet intelligence, training to be a spy. Within a few short years, his skills and background make him the perfect candidate to be sent to Germany, where he soon finds work in Nazi military intelligence, ready to be sent on assignment. With detailed historical events, compelling characters, and plenty of heart-grabbing moments, this novel is intensely engaging from the first page. Alexsi is complex and fully drawn; this is a spy who gains the reader's trust while never showing his hand. VERDICT Christie's fabulous novel of historical espionage will appeal to both World War II fiction buffs and spy novel/thriller aficionados. Extremely well done.--Julie Kane, Washingrton & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

11. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      February 1, 2017
      Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov is a Soviet double agent who, posing as a Nazi, has infiltrated the Nazi Party intelligence service. Really, though, Alexsi is a kind of triple agent; his only true allegiance is to himself and to the tricky job of staying alive. Perfectly content as a thief in 1930s Russia, he is arrested and refashioned as an agent. Alexsi rises in the ranks, always taking the next assignment, no matter how dangerous, to avoid a more immediate peril (knowing the Germans are set to invade Russia, he agrees to go to Berlin rather than being sent to the Eastern Front). But now his strategy seems about to backfire: the head of the SD (Nazi intelligence agency) has concocted a harebrained scheme to assassinate Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill when they gather for the 1943 Tehran Conference. Alexsi, of course, is the designated assassin. Christie effectively layers on the historical detail as the absurd scheme plays itself out. Alexsi may be a superspy, but he gloriously lacks all convictions except self-preservation, and in that way he belongs in the grand tradition of antiwar heroes like Jaroslav Haek's Schweik and Joseph Heller's Yossarian.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

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shortDescription

"[A] panoramic, smart, hugely enjoyable thriller"—The New York Times Book Review

"A single spy—in the right place and at the right moment—may change the course of history."
Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Alexsi is caught by the NKVD and transported to Moscow. There, in the notorious headquarters of the secret police, he is given a choice: be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany under the identity of his best friend, the long lost nephew of a high ranking Nazi official, or disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka. For Alexsi, it's no choice at all.
Over the course of the next seven years, Alexsi has to live his role, that of the devoted nephew of a high Nazi official, and ultimately works for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm...

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