The Once and Future Spy - by Robert Littell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The most elite levels of the CIA's Counterintelligence unit are on the verge of pulling off an operation so huge it will change global politics--and so secret that it has no paper trail. But the operation's organizer, Roger Wanamaker, has evidence that the plan has sprung a leak. Now it is a deadly race against time to "walk back the cat"--isolate the leak and plug it--before the scheme is exposed and an international conflict is ignited.

Meanwhile analyst Silas Sibley--nicknamed "The Weeder" due to his talent for parsing intelligence with experimental computer technology--has uncovered information no one was ever meant to find. Now he has to decide what to do with it: expose the unfolding atrocity, even if it means cutting the knees out from the intelligence agency he works for and has, up until now, believed in? Or is there some other solution? Clinging fiercely to the legacy of his ancestor American Revolutionary war hero Nathan Hale, the Weeder takes matters into his own hands.

Surprising and complex, this psychological deep dive into obsession, loyalty, and history, poses the question: Whose truth should be believed?

Review Quotes

"An unusual, absorbing book that should keep you riveted . . . A searing look at the amorality of those who think the end is more important than the means."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A very clever meditation on the nature of history and historiography, and it offers a tense and often nastily humorous chase."
--Chicago Tribune

"A spellbinding plot, highly original."
--Elmore Leonard

"A must-read for the spy connoisseur."
--Nelson DeMille

"An ingenious, compellingly entertaining caper--funny, touching and, as usual with Littell, disturbing."
--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"A suspenseful, audacious blend of spy/farce and spy/fantasy steeped in a rich historical sauce . . . So it's happily ever after, right? If you think so, you're not acquainted with the devilish mind of Robert Littell."
--The Detroit News

"In the overcrowded bazaar of espionage fiction, Robert Littell is a class act."
--The Guardian (UK)

"A brilliantly clever story."
--The Independent (UK)

"Littell deserves his comparisons to Deighton and Le Carré."
--The Times (UK)

"Robert Littell writes smart, sharp thrillers. The Once and Future Spy is his smartest and sharpest to date."
--The Observer (UK)

Praise for Robert Littell

"If Littell didn't invent the American spy novel, he should have."
--Tom Clancy

"America's greatest living espionage novelist."
--Sarah Weinman, The Crime Lady

"Since his Cold War classic, The Defection of AJ Lewinter, Littell has been steadily creating his own subgenre, the counter-thriller, witty and highly original tales that play off clichés of the Cold War thriller and subvert them."
--The Washington Post

About the Author