What do You think about The Prodigal Spy (1999)?
An intriguing tale of a boy, Nicholas, whose father defected to Russia in the wake of accusations and testimony before the McCarthy hearings. As an adult, he gets drawn into his father's secrets and has to deploy skills in suberfuge and brave actions to resolve the mystery, mostly in Czeoslovakia soon after the Russian takeover near the end of the Vietnam War. Nice mix of stories about a family torn apart by political events on the one hand and about corruption of national morals in the Cold War on the other.
—Michael
I had not heard of Joseph Kanon before reading this book. This is surprising as I generally enjoy reading spy stories.While not up to the level of Alan Furst or John LeCarre, nevertheless, this is a suspenseful story. It takes place in two time frames: during the "Red Scare" of the late 1940s and early 50s and, later, during the Vietnam War and the Nixon Administration of the early 1970s. The plot unfolds in two major cities Washington, DC and Prague, Czechoslovakia. The protagonist, Nick Kotlar is caught up, as a ten year old, in Congressional hearings in which his father, Walter, is accused of being a Russian spy. Later, as an adult, he is invited by his father to visit him in Prague where he has retired after many years living in Moscow. The plot develops from there.The plot is very complicated. So complicated that the ending, in which all its elements are tied together, is a weakness of the story. There are just too many coincidences required to bring the story to a conclusion. That's why I didn't rate the book higher.The characterizations are strong and enhance the story considerably. Nick's father, his stepfather Larry, his mother, his girl friend, Molly and all the other supporting characters are all well drawn and realistic. I enjoyed the book and will be reading more of Kanon's writings in the future.
—Ed
This started well, with me believing that I'd finally found something meaty to get my reading teeth into. It seemed an interesting enough story, but the pace was so slow that I began to question the whole thing - why did this loving, caring, intelligent father just up and leave his adored wife and kid to go and live in Russia? Once I started to question the motivations of the characters I needed the plot to pick up and Get On With It, but Kanon was too involved in his characters to deliver on this. Which would have been fine if you could have really believed the plot. I think what I'm trying to say is that the book didn't hang together, and therefore I couldnt get into it.
—Jim
