Agent in Place
by Helen MacInnes
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Chuck Kelso is an idealist. When he steals a top-secret NATO memorandum, he only intends to leak it to the press; but it is soon in the hands of a Russian agent, a man who has spent nine years quietly working himself into the fabric of Washington society. Within hours it has reached the KGB, and the CIA's top man in Moscow has had his cover blown. For British agent Tony Lawton, hunting down the Russian operative -- the 'agent in place' -- is a welcome challenge. But for Chuck's brother, the show more journalist Tom Kelso, and his beautiful wife, Thea, the affair has unleashed a very special terror.Now the race is on to find the Russian spy before a top-level NATO conference. But why is the escaped agent behaving so strangely? Is he who he seems?
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A NATO document is compromised and turns up in the possession of the KGB. NATO agents attempt to trace the spies while also protecting a Soviet source who is now in their sphere. Or is this source really on their side? The story moves between New York City and the French Riviera.
There’s a lot of convoluted plotting and unnecessary detail that bogs down the plot. The book was published in 1976 but the writing style dates back to the 1950s. And there are at least two typos in this edition.
There’s a lot of convoluted plotting and unnecessary detail that bogs down the plot. The book was published in 1976 but the writing style dates back to the 1950s. And there are at least two typos in this edition.
I like the concepts of Helen MacInnes’s thrillers, but I often find they take me longer to read than I think they should given their length. This one has a good setting (mostly the French Riviera) and some cunning cat and mouse that kept me guessing. I also liked that Tom Kelso’s wife, Dorothea, played slightly more than a minor role in the story. This is probably my second-favourite MacInnes so far; my favourite is Assignment in Brittany.
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45+ Works 8,026 Members
Helen MacInnes was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 7, 1907. In 1928, she received a degree in French and German from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She later studied at University College in London and worked as a librarian. She got married in 1932, moved to New York in 1937, and became an American citizen in 1952. In 1939, she began show more writing suspense novels and won the Columbia Prize for Literature in 1966. Many of her novels were adapted into movies including Above Suspicion, Assignment in Brittany, The Venetian Affair, and The Salzburg Connection. She died from the effects of a stroke on September 30, 1985 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Agent in Place
- Original title
- Agent in Place
- Original publication date
- 1976
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- Members
- 436
- Popularity
- 70,838
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.35)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Finnish, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 22
- ASINs
- 15
