This classic espionage thriller from bestseller Lynds (The Coil
) strikes a perfect balance between the private lives of her characters and the blood and betrayal of their professional adventures. Jay Tice, the last spymaster of the title, sold out the CIA store to the Russians during the Cold War and is now serving a life sentence in a federal prison from which no one has ever escaped. When Tice does slip away, a gifted CIA hunter, Elaine Cunningham, tries to find out how and why. As Cunningham follows an intricate trail of death and deception, Lynds brings to vivid life parts of the Eastern U.S. (like North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp) and a huge cast of supporting players. The liaison between Tice and a top female agent from the former East Germany points to the passion sadly missing from many of today's spy thrillers: "Tice and Raina had had a fiery but covert Cold War affair. That was the way people lived then. When sex, lust, love erupted between East and West, it was always forbidden and usually volcanic." Regional author tour. (June)
