The Russian Key
A Novel
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $23.99
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
“An intriguing spy novel written in the form of a memoir . . . Those seeking a fresh take on the genre will be satisfied.”—Publishers Weekly
An exciting debut for fans of The Americans and Red Sparrow.
In 1964, at the height of the Cold War, Kate Landau, a young American expert on Russia, joins the CIA. Drawn to danger and adventure, she hopes to be sent to Moscow, but instead finds herself stuck in an office doing boring translations. When her big break comes, she’s recruited to work undercover in New York City, investigating a KGB officer posing as a UN diplomat. Exactly the kind of work she’d hoped for.
The KGB officer is not a stranger. She’d met him in Moscow years before when he was a handsome university student named Max and she was a naive American college girl visiting the Soviet Union on a rare friendship tour. Max had been her first lover. She still treasures the little gold key he'd given her one memorable night in a Moscow park.
When Kate and Max meet up again in New York and inevitably resume their love affair, it is passionate, but fraught with distrust and secret agendas. A series of dangerous events lead Kate to fear for her life—and to suspect the man who is both her lover and her enemy. Against a background of Soviet brutality and international intrigue, The Russian Key will keep you guessing as it builds to its shocking and unexpected climax.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Laber (The Courage of Strangers: Coming of Age with the Human Rights Movement) makes her fiction debut with an intriguing spy novel written in the form of a memoir. In 1954, Kate Landau and two other Smith College students interested in Russian culture travel as tourists to Moscow, where Kate has a brief fling with Max Rzhevsky, a student at Moscow University, before returning home. In 1964, Kate, who's now a doctoral student at Columbia University's Russian Institute in New York City, accepts a job with the CIA as a Russian translator. She eventually receives a sensitive assignment, investigating the cultural affairs officer of the Soviet mission to the United Nations, who is none other than Max, now a KGB agent. Kate finagles a meeting with Max, and within days, they're lovers again and the two embark on a yearslong spy vs. spy relationship. Laber, a founder of Human Rights Watch, clearly draws on her personal experiences as Kate is increasingly drawn to the cause of human rights. Those expecting a traditional espionage tale may be disappointed, but those seeking a fresh take on the genre will be satisfied.
