AHMM, December 2009 by Dell Magazine Authors

Author:Dell Magazine Authors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dell Magazines

Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by Robert C. Hahn

One minor casualty of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the USSR was, for a time, the spy novel, so long a staple of the Cold War. As novelist Joseph Finder wrote in a November 2001 New York Times article, “After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it seemed that even before the dust had settled the obituary of the spy novel was being written. With the end of the Evil Empire, spies seemed obsolete, and so did the labyrinthine narrative of the intelligence operative, with its tradecraft, safe houses, moles and dead drops."

But as several recent novels show, the rise of Vladimir Putin and the emergence of the FSB (formerly the KGB) as a major force in modern Russia have given new life to the supposedly moribund spy novel. Three new books illustrate the strength and diversity of the resurgent genre with a British agent in Russia, a Russian agent in the United States, and an American detective in both London and Moscow. In each book, chillingly realistic shadow operations and politically driven violence provide grave insights into the Cold War's continuing repercussions.

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Alex Dryden's debut, red to black (Ecco, $25.99), delivers a serious warning in the guise of fiction. The pseudonymous journalist delves into the machinations of the FSB and its KGB predecessors with eerie, convincing details. Dryden has spent more than 15 years as a freelance journalist covering events in Russia and was also involved in security and intelligence matters. That work provided him with firsthand experience and a healthy appreciation for the dangers of presenting his views in a nonfiction format. In a publicity letter written for this book, Dryden notes that “since Putin became head of the FSB(KGB) in 1998, over sixty journalists have been murdered in Russia, and thirty politicians.” For this and other reasons, Dryden decided fiction was his best approach to writing about Putin's Russia.

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