S, PORTRAIT OF A SPY

by Ian Adams ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 17, 1982

90% fact and 10% fiction""--supposedly--is what espionage fans will get in this non-narrative novel about a Canadian triple agent. As we learn through an interview format: ""S"" was a Soviet mole high in the RCMP security services; he was discovered by the CIA, but they chose not to expose ""S"" to the Canadian authorities, preferring to use him to ""pump any crap they wanted along to the Soviets."" The CIA comes off badly indeed in this book, especially in the torture department and in ""colonising"" Canada--while a reporter, known herein as ""The Author,"" investigates ""S"" through his fellow workers, his superior, CIA agents, and his lover Krista Golner, a gorgeous linguist on contract to the federal government. (A fellow KGB agent, she is eventually knifed to death.) In no way reading like a novel, the book exposes the charades that ""S"" perpetrated on the Security Services through the years--and the result is an iffily documented but juicily detailed mosaic: fishily entertaining material for espionage buffs.

Pub Date: June 17, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Ticknor & Fields/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION