Carnival of Spies by Robert Moss

 

(pb; 1987)

From the back cover

“In the seething cauldron of Germany between two world wars. . .

“Young Johnny Lenz found his manhood and his cause. Loathing Fascism, growing up in chaos, he became a valued soldier of the Communist revolution. Fiercely loyal to his Moscow leaders, he fought, killed, and bled for them. Until Stalin’s bitter pact with Adolf Hitler brought disenchantment. . . until murder, torture and corruption revealed to him the great Communist lie.

“Rio De Janiero, 1936. . .

“An exotic city celebrating Carnival with extravagance and abandon. . . and a country in the midst of one of the century’s most daring attempts at revolution. Now Johnny Lenz will make his own life a perfect lie, balancing on a razor’s edge between rival agents and two sisters whose urgent passions could betray him. Now he will engineer a violent coup in the name of Communism—as a double agent for British Intelligence.”

 

Review

Moss’s complex, ambitious political thriller is one of those rare works where the personal and the political come together in an effective, harmonious manner. Johnny Lenz, an anti-Nazi and (relatively) kind-hearted believer in Communism, joins the party and rises quickly in the ranks, only to discover that his political party is riddled with corruption and other vices, vices that not only erode his initial hopes, but affect the love of his life (Sigrid Eckhardt, an artist), threatening to drive them apart—not unlike the way international politics and espionage, and national temperaments are split and exploited. His broken-faith/double-agent journey spans decades and continents, flavored with vivid descriptions of danger, rich characterization, sudden bursts of violence, romance, and locations, without any lags in the pacing and storyline. (Fans of barebones, lean-writing thrillers may disagree, but given Carnival’s scope, this is another excellent work by a master thriller writer, one worth owning, and perhaps in a few years, re-reading.)

The Spike by Arnaud de Borchgrave and Robert Moss

(pb; 1980. First book in the Robert Hockney series.)

From the back cover

"From the jungles of Southeast Asia to the terrorist lairs of Hamburg and Rome, from high society orgies to the discovery of the Russian 'mole' who burrowed his way to he peaks of power in America, The Spike races through international political intrigue with shattering power. . . this. . . thriller unveils the KGB's sinister Directorate A and its 'disinformation' conspiracy -- a Red plot to turn the Western media into an unwitting Communist pawn in the Soviet drive for global supremacy.

"ROBERT HOCKNEY - He's a famous reporter who's covered all the big stories, but this news threatens to ignite the world.

"MICHEL RENARD - He's an ambitious French journalist whose politics -- and lust for money -- sweep him right into the claws of the KGB.

"TESSA TORRANCE - She's a movie star whose radical opinions drive her underground. . . to drugs, terrorism and a new guerrilla identity.

"ASTRID RENARD - She's a beautiful, voluptuous woman -- burning with desire for new clothes and kinky sex."


Review

Spike is a racy, complex and exciting Cold War-era political thriller that spans decades, wars and the globe with multiple characters, whose politics and agendas provide the engine of the storyline.

The authors' writing is excellent for the most part, aside from last hundred pages. At this point, the pace slows and the tale wrap-up begins. It is also at this point that the story runs long and lacks the zing of the writing that precedes it.

I get that the authors are maintaining the realism of Spike by not rushing through the Washington-based proceedings but, given how well they managed the pace and realism of earlier events, it seems that they should have been able -- without much effort -- to match the excellence of the rest of the book.

Spike is still a superb and timely read, one worth owning. Followed by Monimbó.