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A review by komet2020
The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
The Helsinki Affair is a contemporary spy thriller that touches upon 2 generations of a family that has been involved in "the trade" (what the British refer to euphemistically as spying) for half a century.
The novel begins during a lazy summer day at the U.S. Embassy in Rome where Amanda Cole, a 40 year old CIA agent (working under diplomatic cover) is visited by an agitated Russian defector who warns her that Senator Bob Vogel of NY will be assassinated. At first, Amanda is incredulous. But as she weighs more carefully what the would be defector has said, she is inclined to give credence to his assertions. Within hours, it is confirmed that Senator Vogel dies under mysterious circumstances in Egypt, where he had been attending a conference.
Senator Vogel's death sets off a train of events in the novel in which Amanda tries to uncover and put an end to an insidious and cruelly ingenious plan of the Russian government under President Nikolai Gruzdev to sow confusion in the world's financial markets to Russia's advantage. While doing so, she uncovers something about her father's work while in the CIA in Finland during the 1980s that may prove deeply embarrassing. Plot twists abound which make for compelling reading. I especially liked it that this spy novel was centered on the work of women agents, their ingenuity and grit in dealing with difficult situations.
To date, I've read all of Anna Pitoniak's novels and The Helsinki Affair is one of her best.
The novel begins during a lazy summer day at the U.S. Embassy in Rome where Amanda Cole, a 40 year old CIA agent (working under diplomatic cover) is visited by an agitated Russian defector who warns her that Senator Bob Vogel of NY will be assassinated. At first, Amanda is incredulous. But as she weighs more carefully what the would be defector has said, she is inclined to give credence to his assertions. Within hours, it is confirmed that Senator Vogel dies under mysterious circumstances in Egypt, where he had been attending a conference.
Senator Vogel's death sets off a train of events in the novel in which Amanda tries to uncover and put an end to an insidious and cruelly ingenious plan of the Russian government under President Nikolai Gruzdev to sow confusion in the world's financial markets to Russia's advantage. While doing so, she uncovers something about her father's work while in the CIA in Finland during the 1980s that may prove deeply embarrassing. Plot twists abound which make for compelling reading. I especially liked it that this spy novel was centered on the work of women agents, their ingenuity and grit in dealing with difficult situations.
To date, I've read all of Anna Pitoniak's novels and The Helsinki Affair is one of her best.