The Reluctant Assassin [NOOK Book]

Overview

A novel of intrigue, shadowy politics, and shocking surprises deftly navigates between the chaotic hope and confusion of post-Cold War Moscow and turn-of-the-Millennium Washington. The action is fast paced, and there’s enough hi-tech gadgetry to satisfy the most demanding fans of techno-thrillers.
Each chapter of The Reluctant Assassin pulls the reader deeper into the story as the author builds tension the way a carpenter builds a house—step by well-crafted step. But this brilliantly turned thriller—reminiscent of Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle—is more than mindless action. The characters are developed, and the reader cares about them.
Vladimir Vyugin, a former KGB spy, is persuaded by a former colleague of his (and now a high-ranking official in the Russian government) to come out of retirement to take on the assignment of assassinating Mark Dantry, a major American banking official with the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.). Vyugin is told that Dantry’s vote on an upcoming multi-billion-dollar loan to Russia could destroy the fragile democratic government that has finally been elected in his distressed and turbulent country.
The former spy has had enough of espionage and of the killing that sometimes goes hand-in-hand with the job, but his old colleague convinces him that, as distasteful as the assignment may be, it’s necessary, if the new democratically elected Russian government is to survive. The alternative, Vyugin is told, will be anarchy or a return to the despotic days of the past. Reluctantly, against his better judgment and his higher instincts, Vyugin accepts the assignment.
When Dantry, the I.M.F. official, dies—apparently in a car accident—his brother, Tony, a retired CIA agent now living a life of listless leisure operating a sometime charter fishing boat on New York’s Long Island Sound, is suspicious and decides to investigate. In the process he takes on the Washington establishment, which has no interest in embarrassing the new Russian president by exposing possible bad apples in his shaky government—especially since they’re not convinced Tony’s brother was assassinated in the first place. Tony also fights the DC police, who see no upside to helping a former CIA spook.