Overview
In a time of accusations, treachery and lies, some secrets were heartbreaking....
Others were deadly.
Once, Nick Kotlar tried to save his father. From the angry questions. From the accusations. From a piece of evidence that only Nick knew about and that he destroyed—for his father. But in the Red Scare of 1950 Walter Kotlar could not be saved. Branded a spy, he fled the country, leaving behind a wife, a young son—and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room.
Now, twenty years later, Nick will get a second chance. Because a beautiful journalist has brought a message from his long-lost father, and Nick will follow her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Confronting a father he barely remembers and a secret that could change everything, Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy, and to expose the one person who knew the truth—and watched a family be destroyed.
Synopsis
Josef Kanon's follow-up to his bestselling novel Los Alamos is a tale of suspense, romance, and intrigue set during the HUAC witch-hunts of the early 1950s.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
What he does the best is to turn more than a few moments in our history into a personal story that shows the reality of what we have done and can do to each other.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
What would have happened if the McCarthy-era communist witch-hunts actually uncovered a spy? That's the provocative premise behind The Prodigal Spy, the second stellar offering from Joseph Kanon, whose auspicious debut, Los Alamos, won a prestigious Edgar Award.From the Publisher
"An edgy spy thriller...[and] a tale of love—between father and son, man and woman—set against a foreboding background that is poignant and imminently believable....Captivating."—Denver Post"Compelling...intriguing...superb....reads beautifully and convinces utterly."—Wall Street Journal
"Intriguing...Kanon wonderfully conveys the paranoia of the times....The Prodigal Spy has a richness of emotional layers usually not found in espionage novels." —USA Today
"Vivid...tense...reheats the Cold War with history, mystery and a political blast from the past."—People
"Kanon does a fine job...blending history, fiction, suspense and romance...but what he does the best is to turn more than a few moments in our history into a personal story that shows the reality of what we have done and can do to each other."—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Tom Nolan
Mr. Kanon displays superb abilities to create compelling sequences and intriguing characters. . . The Prodigal Spy reads beautifully and convinces utterly. -- The Wall Street JournalMarion Ettinger
Kanon wonderfully conveys the paranoia of the times—and the toll it took on children....The audio tape wonderfully conveys the tension of living in a Communist country recently invaded by the Russians...The Prodigal Spy has a richness of emotional layers usually not found in espionage novels. And Gaines is a wizard with those Czech accents. -- USA TodayLos Angeles Times
Kanon blows heat into [the] Cold War.Denver Post
Captivating...poignant and eminently believable.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
What he does the best is to turn more than a few moments in our history into a personal story that shows the reality of what we have done and can do to each other.John Ellis
Emotionally rich and confidently told...combines expansive powers of observation with keen moral intelligence.— Boston Globe
J.D. Reed
...Witty, tense and vivid prose...— People Magazine
Steve Nemmers
...[O]ne is treated to a very pleasant piece of recent history with an added hypothesis....This book is particularly well suited for the reader who enjoys mystery, but has tired of the technical overlay (e.g. medicine, law; military) which so often accompanies the modern suspense novel. If there are any acronyms or technical terms in this novel, they are totally transparent. This is merely a very good story of good, evil, and many shades in-between.—The Mystery Reader.com
Library Journal
Suppose Sen. Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, and other loyalty investigators had actually unearthed a Communist spy during those pyrotechnic years from 1950 to 1954? And suppose this spy had disappeared and was not heard from until 1969, when through mysterious means he communicates from Prague with his grown son and tells him he wishes to return to the United States. On this premise, Kanon has constructed a literate, swiftly paced thriller. As in Los Alamos LJ 3/15/97, he again demonstrates his ability to tell a story and make his characters come alive. There is suspense, expertly built up; a love interest, in the most approved contemporary fashion; and action, in the classic spy tradition. The political climate of Washington in the 1950s and the atmosphere of suspicion and fear in Prague under the Soviets feel real. A treat for crime fans who appreciate blithe and brittle writing.--A.J. Anderson, GSLIS, Simmons Coll., BostonMorton Kondracke
...[M[oderately engrossing....establishes Nick's aptitude for spying in the first chapter....Nick and Molly [are] an attractive pair of adventurers... -- The New York Times Book ReviewJ.D. Reed
...[W]itty, tense and vivid prose... -- People MagazineSteve Nemmers
...[O]ne is treated to a very pleasant piece of recent history with an added hypothesis....This book is particularly well suited for the reader who enjoys mystery, but has tired of the technical overlay (e.g. medicine, law; military) which so often accompanies the modern suspense novel. If there are any acronyms or technical terms in this novel, they are totally transparent. This is merely a very good story of good, evil, and many shades in-between.— The Mystery Reader.com