THE SPY'S WIFE

When Mollie Keatley's journalist husband of ten years disappears one day, she's told—by dour British agent Monk—that he's probably now in Moscow: "Sam Keatley's a spy, missus. And he's a traitor, missus." Can it be true? Molly refuses to believe at first—but when Monk reveals other Sam secrets to her (that he had a mistress, a stillborn child, and later a vasectomy), Molly has to face the facts. . . as she seeks comfort at her parents' humble Yorkshire home. Things are hardly comforting there, however: Molly's secretive mum is facing cancer surgery; her taciturn pa is in a silent panic; Monk's men and Sam's colleagues are all watching her; and old flame Trevor, now a married lecher, is successfully, lustfully playing on her anger at Sam. Then—a hush-hush invitation to Bucharest (apparently from Sam). . . and Molly, though unsure of her feelings, is off, followed by a nosy reporter and Sam's unstable mistress. But it's Molly he wants; does she want him, now that he Confesses All, rather proudly? Before she can really decide, Sam is dead—killed in an "accident"—and, back in England, Molly is ready to try a different sort of love. . . with widower Monk ("I'm no oil painting, missus, but I've got my own teeth"). Hill, author of some fine mysteries (Ruling Passion, etc.), seems uncertain here whether he's writing suspense or psychological character-study—and this slim novel doesn't quite fully satisfy in either category, especially since Molly's instant transformation from docile hausfrau to bitter, fast-talking seeker is never really credible. But the scene-by-scene storytelling is fine (best by far in the Yorkshire home sequences); the dialogue is often splendidly sharp; and readers with modest expectations will find this an odd, sometimes brutish, mostly attractive mix of espionage, wifely identity crisis, and unlikely romance.