The bestselling author of Leaving Berlin and Istanbul Passage ``continues to demonstrate that he is up there with the very best.
of spy thriller writers`` (The Times, UK) with this ``fascinating`` (The Washington Post) novel about two brothers bound by blood but divided by loyalty.
In 1949, Frank Weeks, agent of the newly formed CIA, was exposed as a Communist spy and fled the country to vanish behind the Iron Curtain.
Now, twelve years later, he has written his memoirs, a KGB- approved project almost certain to be an international bestseller, and has asked his brother Simon, a publisher, to come to Moscow to edit the manuscript.
It's a reunion Simon both dreads and longs for.
The book is sure to be filled with mischief and misinformation; Frank's motives suspect, the CIA hostile.
But the chance to see Frank, his adored older brother, proves irresistible.
And at first Frank is still Frank--the same charm, the same jokes, the same bond of affection that transcends ideology.
Then Simon begins to glimpse another Frank, capable of treachery and actively working for ``the service.
`` He finds himself dragged into the middle of Frank's new scheme, caught between the KGB and the CIA in a fatal cat and mouse game that only one of the brothers is likely to survive.
``A finely paced Cold War thriller with Kanon's] usual flair for atmospheric detail, intriguing characters, and suspenseful action`` (Library Journal), Defectors takes us to the heart of a world of secrets, where even the people we know best can't be trusted and murder is just collateral damage.
