Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Bill Hefflin is a man apart—apart from life, apart from his homeland, apart from love

At the start of the 1989 uprising in Romania, CIA analyst Bill Hefflin—a disillusioned Romanian expat—arrives in Bucharest at the insistence of his KGB asset, code-named Boris. As Hefflin becomes embroiled in an uprising that turns into a brutal revolution, nothing is as it seems, including the search for his childhood love, which has taken on mythical proportions.

With the bloody events unfolding at blinding speed, Hefflin realizes the revolution is manipulated by outside forces, including his own CIA and Boris—the puppeteer who seems to be pulling all the strings of Hefflin’s life.

The Bourne Identity meets John le Carre’s The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: A time and place explored as the events I saw unfold with my own eyes were shocking and appalling me and my compatriots will always make a story I want to read.

I've had decent luck with Oceanview's choices of stories they publish so far. This one is a first novel, as almost all the others of theirs I've read so far have been. As a first novel, I felt this was very promising in terms of the choice of story to be told but less so in its structure. Is ir a sentimental education? Is it a spy thriller? Is it a long-term migrant returns tale? A love story? Pick any two. The issue for me was that the author and editor tried to fit way more plot in than the story could support.

"Bill"/Fili (his childhood nickname) in his college years and his recruitment dragged me down the hardest. It's true that I don't care if straight people get hooked/hooked back up very much. I still can read about the characters, if I'm invested in them; but I saw Catherine, the college girlfriend, as a creepy, nasty person, deeply self-centered, and I felt she didn't ever care for Bill except as and when he could be useful. The lost childhood girl-friend was so generic as to be pointless as a character, almost so much so that she was a poor Maguffin. It damned near gets him killed several times, this obsession with women who don't exist except in his imagination. No subsequent revelations or events changed my opinion, either.

What worked for me was the evocation of the time and the place...a world on the cusp of a violent ending, a culture about to prove (yet again) the absolute inescapable truth of the aphorism "To every birth its blood." There is, in each increasingly menacing occurrence, a mounting sense of Bill's being in a place that is dangerous, that could claim him as its next victim. A creeping sense of dread is always useful in a spy thriller. It was present in every part of the Romanian settings of the story. Bill's discoveries about his place in the CIA, and nature of the US interest in the country's future path, all lead him to reassess a lifetime of hurts and hopes as a last-minute rooftop decision point changes him, his essential self, irrevocably.

When we reach the end of this story, the chickens of wars long past and of debts long since exchanged for the gift of a life out of reach to thank the giver for a life unearned come home to roost. The resolution was...pat...but the consequences meted out were condign, so I landed more on the forgiving snd accepting side of the story's ending. It was not a foregone conclusion that I would forgive the w-verb-bombings and the ethnic-slur pepperings and the heterosexism...but I did. That speaks volumes in the story's favor.

I considered it a qualified success, though I warn readers about the convenient-reveal ending.

There's a really interesting development on the way: THE BUCHAREST DOSSIER is now optioned for film adaptation by Cody Gifford, Kathie Lee Gifford's son. ( )

NOTE: I am a librarian and I received an ARC of this book in MOBI format from NetGalley.

Intrigue. Intrigue. Intrigue. This was the one word that kept popping up in my brain as I read each chapter of "The Bucharest Dossier." I am not one for spy novels, usually, but the tie-in with the end of the Cold War in what some might see as an auxiliary Communist country kept me interested. It create a plot schema in which several strands of interest, including love affairs and the question of identity, combined to keep the novel's pacing steady throughout. At times, the male-centric perspective detracts from the narrative's overall effectiveness, but only in a mildly eye-rolling way. The novel's conclusion seems to wrap up the story a little too nicely. ( )

The Bucharest Dossier, William Maz, author
The really special thing about this novel is that it encompasses spycraft, with all of its intrigue and controversy, exposing its warts and foibles along the way, as the author marries this tale of espionage with a fairytale romance, replete with all of the necessary dreams and hopefulness that accompany young unrequited love. Neither theme detracts from the other, rather, they enhance the mystery, and make the book ever so much more enlightening.
Skillfully, the author has woven together a tale that is based on actual historic events in Romania, a country that seems often to have been riddled with turmoil and corrupt leaders, with the most normal of human needs, the search for love. The reader cannot help but notice the similarity of circumstances inside Ukraine today, another country with a history buried in corruption, that was recently invaded by Russia. The meddling of a country into the affairs of other countries, seems to be a common practice.
Andrei Pincus, the Harvard Professor and mentor to Harvard student, William Hefflin, our main character, who is assumed to be Romanian, is suddenly murdered. It was supposedly carried out by an agent of the Romanian Securitate. Behind the scenes, Pincus had influenced Hefflin’s life, beginning with his invitation and acceptance to the exclusive “Fly Club” at Harvard, where Hefflin was being observed and groomed to work for the CIA, unbeknownst to him. Bereft at the loss, of Pincus, he hopes to discover who is responsible. This is just the first of many secrets that will be unraveled. William Hefflin, is an assumed name for this young man, who identifies with America now, but has also had a childhood history in Greece and Romania. What is his real name? Unknown to all but a few chosen people, William’s real name is Vasili Argyris. He is not Romanian, but Greek.
When he decided to work for the CIA and not to go to medical school as his doctor father wished, his life, as a loner, seemed settled. For a year short of a decade, he has had a relationship with an asset in Europe, whom he calls Boris. Although he has never met him, and he does not know his real identity, the asset has always passed legitimate information to Hefflin, that is truly actionable. Both Boris and William have become valuable to the agency. When after the death of Pincus, Boris uncharacteristically asks William to meet him in Bucharest, he is surprised, but at this same time, as Romanians seem ready to demand their freedom, as all the citizens of other countries in the Eastern Bloc recently have, the CIA sends him to Romania to gather information, and gauge the temperature of the country. Even though he is officially an analyst in charge of etiquette, and not a trained field agent, his Romanian background makes him a perfect choice. The CIA wants to know when, and if, this uprising will occur that will supposedly bring freedom to the masses suffering under the thumb of the Ceausescu’s, Nicolae and Elena. Is the country becoming a powder keg?
Once in Romania, Hefflin’s old memories begin to haunt him. He remembers Pusha, his childhood friend and first love. They declared their undying devotion to each other when they were seven or eight, but circumstances separated the two youngsters, two decades ago. William discovers that he has to hone his skills, as he idly walks the streets and searches for memories, because he is followed, attacked and compromised in this country that seems almost lawless. Ordinary people must scrounge for their survival. All but the elite seem to be starving. The Securitate are everywhere, are brutal, and seemingly answer to no one
All of the characters have secret pasts that are unknown until the end when the loose ends are seamlessly knitted together. There are so many colorful characters in the novel. Tanti Bobo, a gypsy that was Hefflin’s wet nurse in Romania, Pusha (doll), the beautiful little playmate, and Catherine, a beautiful woman Hefflin met and loved while he was at Harvard, to name a few. The novel very deftly and creatively exposes the corruption in government, both at home and abroad. It seems everyone has a price or a will to survive and how far one will go is tested on every page.
Book groups will love this book because it raises many universal, timeworn questions. Did anyone instigate the riots, protests, and violence in Romania or were they spontaneous? Does everyone have a price? Is there any hope for a resurgence of moral and ethical boundaries? In spite of the horrors of war and brutality, can love flourish? How far will one go to save themselves and sacrifice others? Is it appropriate for one country to interfere in the affairs of another?
Take this book with you on your next vacation or to your next dinner alone. It will be good company. ( )