Citizen Orlov
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3.8 • 37 Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
A 2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Medal Winner
“[An] enjoyable comic fable . . .” —Wall Street Journal
“This auspicious debut announces a bright new voice in comic suspense.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Not every fishmonger can be a secret agent.
Journey to an unnamed mountainous country in central Europe at the end of the Great War. Enter Citizen Orlov, a simple fishmonger and an honest, upright citizen, who answers a phone call meant for a secret agent and stumbles into a hidden world of espionage and secrecy. Recruited by the Ministry of Security, he is sent on assignment to safeguard the king.
But Orlov soon discovers that his ministry handler, the alluring femme fatale Agent Zelle, is planning not to protect the king but to assassinate him. Caught in a web of plot and counterplot, confusing loyalties, and explosive betrayals, Orlov finds himself on trial for murder. Given the opportunity to clear his name, he finds that the lives of his friends, mother, and fellow citizens hang in the balance.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This is the most fun spy thriller we’ve read in ages. In an unnamed European country shortly after World War I, a middle-aged fishmonger named Orlov encounters a ringing telephone on his way to work. The voice on the other end has an urgent message, and against his better judgment, this unambitious, apolitical man gets drawn into a helter-skelter plot involving a hapless revolutionary party, an alluring belly dancer, two hotels with almost exactly the same name—oh, and plans to assassinate the king. First-time novelist Jonathan Payne mixes Franz Kafka’s surreal absurdism with the ingenious plotting of Graham Greene’s spy novels, then adds a hilarious layer of deadpan comedy. Written in short chapters filled with exciting left turns, Citizen Orlov barrels along. We wouldn’t mind at all if this turned out to be the start of a series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in an unnamed central European kingdom at the end of WWI, Payne's stellar debut pokes hilarious fun at spy fiction through the exploits of a fishmonger named Orlov. Taking a shortcut through an alley one day, Orlov becomes concerned that the phone he hears ringing in a government office remains unanswered. He enters the room it's in through an open window, picks up the call, and gets a cryptic "life and death" message he's told to convey to someone named Agent Kosek. When Orlov sets off through the building to look for Kosek, he's mistaken for a potential operative himself and, despite being wholly clueless, is paired up with another agent on a covert assignment to protect the king from assassins. As their mission progresses, the well-meaning but bumbling Orlov finds himself enmeshed deeper and deeper in plots he doesn't understand. The blend of action and picaresque buffoonery flatteringly calls Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard tales to mind, and Payne pulls off a genuinely surprising conclusion. This auspicious debut announces a bright new voice in comic suspense.
Customer Reviews
Citizen Orlef
Interesting story and plot but a little far fetched.
Citizen Orlov
I liked it!