cover image Sasha Plotkin's Deceit

Sasha Plotkin's Deceit

Vaughn Sherman. Camel (www.camelpress.com), $16.95 trade paper (310p) ISBN 978-1-60381-811-7

This debut thriller from CIA careerist and memoir/business book writer (Walking the Boardwalk) Sherman provides devotees of Cold War fare with Vietnam-era intrigue. Workaholic CIA operative and gifted linguist Chris Holbeck, heir to a successful maritime business in Washington State, is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and charged with twin missions: Root out a KGB mole suspected of infiltrating the CIA, and urge KGB point man Sasha Plotkin to defect to the United States. A neglectful husband and father to wife Lisa and their children, espionage is Chris's opiate until his personal and work lives intersect through Sasha's deceit. Lisa is central to the confluence of private and public Chris, and much detail is included about the toll exacted from her husband's extended time away from his family. As the missions reach their conclusion, Chris makes a life-changing decision. The particulars of one characters victimization as a teen are unnecessarily drawn out, but readers will be pleased with Sherman's unpredictable plot and lively, credible spies. His liberal and detailed inclusion of Swedish history and culture, clandestine work, family dynamics, and the l portrait of Chris's mother, Mor, are engaging,. (Aug.)