The Double Agent
A Novel
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
From a modern master of the classic espionage novel comes William Christie's The Double Agent, featuring Alexsi Smirnoff - a Russian/German double agent loyal only to himself - in a desperate bid to protect himself, again becomes a double agent, this time for the English.
Alexsi Smirnoff - a Russian orphan - was trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Service and inserted into Nazi Germany, where he rose to a position in German intelligence services. As the war grinds on, trapped between two brutal dictatorships, Alexsi betrays both sides in a desperate ploy that succeeds...and fails. His false identities burned, his life at risk, Alexsi attempts to disappear in the hills - but is caught by the British.
Recruited by the SIS, and by "C" himself, Alexsi is once again a double agent. Initially betrayed by a Soviet agent inside the SIS (Kim Philby), Alexsi is sent beyond the reach of the Soviets, into Italy with a new identity as a sergeant in the German army. Settled into the headquarters of Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, Alexsi finds himself at the nexus at a critical point in World War II, balancing between the various forces vying for control in the Vatican, the Italian resistance, and the brutal German Army determined to maintain control of Northern Italy. And Alexsi, finally forced to choose sides over his own survival.
Sequel to the well-regarded A Single Spy, The Double Agent is a fast-paced, compelling novel of espionage in the most momentous and dangerous of times.
"... a riveting thrill ride." —Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of Ken Follett’s and Len Deighton’s espionage novels will find much to admire." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A great fall thriller." —Red Carpet Crash
"...as Alexsi makes his way across the European theater of the war, he becomes entangled in and surreptitiously shapes real-life events...engaging." —Bookpage
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
