Angela Sloan - by James Whorton (Paperback)

About the Book

A deadpan thriller and mystery about the likely participation in the Watergate scandal of one ex-CIA agent and a 14-year-old girl named Angela Sloan.

Book Synopsis

In his latest novel, universally acclaimed author James Whorton, Jr., delivers a curious Nixon-era caper of broken men and stoic runaways who learn just how much there is to gain, and lose, when you go undercover. Angela Sloan, a seemingly average teenager living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., is left to lie low and fend for herself when her father, a retired CIA officer, skips town in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

Driving a Plymouth Scamp she has just learned to operate, Angela encounters strangers literally at every turn. A fugitive Chinese waitress won't get out of the car. A jaded lady spy offers up free therapy and roadside assistance. A restless pair of hippies keeps preaching about the evils of monogamy. And an anteater lurks in the unlikeliest of places. But through all of her outlandish adventures, Angela keeps focused on one urgent wish: to reunite with her father.

Bold and quirky, Angela Sloan is a priceless coming-of-age story about stealing diner food and salvaging lost identities.

Review Quotes

"...Whorton's third novel is an accomplishment. His detached, deadpan narration perfectly captures his protagonist's worldview and allows Angela Sloan to shine as a coming-of-age tale free of teenage melodrama. Longtime fans of the spy thriller will appreciate the novel's homage to classic espionage tropes and insider lingo, and its driving plot, eminently likable heroine, and pitch-perfect narration may convert new fans to the genre." --Booklist

"Angela Sloan is a dazzler...the novel never loses its place, the destination is clear, and even the human absurdity is believable under Whorton's talented authority. Whorton has masterfully juggled questing oddballs before, in his two previous novels Approximately Heaven and Frankland..." --Matt Baker, Oxford American

"A sly, zippy page-turner....The 1970s setting and the deadpan voice of Angela will appeal to readers who enjoy dark humor and satire." --Library Journal

"In his third novel, Whorton has a fantastic narrator in the teenage Angela Sloan....Whorton gives Angela a distinct voice--simultaneously girlish and wise, and very funny...what unfolds is both a coming-of-age road trip through the freakish underbelly of 1970s America, and an affecting examination of identity." --Publishers Weekly

"This beautiful, deeply original novel locates a specific kind of sadness and confusion at the heart of espionage that hasn't really been found there before--not even by le Carré and others who have looked for it. And yet Whorton writes with such a light touch that the whole thing is also a delightful romp." --Joseph Weisberg, author of An Ordinary Spy


"With a derelict, hilarious, fourteen-year-old narrator whose voice is a cross between Holden Caulfield and Ramona Quimby, James Whorton Jr.'s Angela Sloan is...a greased bullet of a novel, one that flies fast and kills dead-on, bleeding out all the coolest components of spy fiction: espionage, paranoia, uncertain identities, and, almost best of all, a setting in a time before cell phones and Internet access." --Chapter16.org

"Angela Sloan is a winning 14-year-old heroine and way too honest to be an effective Watergate burglar. This smart, poignant, funny book almost makes me thankful for the Nixon presidency." --Matthew Sharpe, author of You Were Wrong and Jamestown

"The teenage daughter of a former CIA agent, Sloan takes us on a wild ride as she confronts not only a crazy cast of characters but secrets of her own past--all the while maintaining her undercover identity....bold, edgy, and downright comic." --Susan Gregg Gilmore, author of The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove and Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen