Starred review from October 24, 2022
Set in 1943 and 1944, Christie’s excellent sequel to 2017’s The Single Spy picks up immediately after the previous book’s events. Having saved Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a Gestapo assassination plot in Tehran, Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, a Soviet spy under deep cover as a German intelligence officer, turns himself over to the British expecting gratitude and sanctuary. Instead, the British put Alexsi back in the field as a double agent, assigned to the German SS headquarters in Rome. There he transmits coded messages back to England, beds an Italian princess, and avoids reprisal from German soldiers and Italian partisans. Christie’s knowledge of old-school tradecraft is exhaustive, and his portrayal of the genuine Ardeatine massacre of more than 300 Italian civilians in 1944 is haunting. A reluctant operative driven more by self-preservation than quaint notions of duty, Alexsi nevertheless possesses a deep core of personal honor. If he can’t prevent Nazi butchery, he at least won’t participate, and when the opportunity to escape finds him, he’ll instead risk it all to do the right thing. Fans of Ken Follett’s and Len Deighton’s espionage novels will find much to admire. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc.