The Once and Future Spy

This book kept me guessing right up through the end, something most unusual in any book, even spy novels. Is Wanamaker the good guy or the bad guy? Is the Weeder a bad guy or a good guy? Is Snow an innocent bystander or is she complicit? Is the Admiral complicit or is he an innocent bystander? And is everyone, or even anyone, a patriot? In roles that switch and change, your reader loyalties change back and forth as the tale unfolds. And intertwined is the historical story from the U.S. Revolutionary War and the Weeder's "my man Nate", a supposed ancestor and real historical figure. Is Nate's tale real or imagined and is his relation to the Weeder real or imagined. Is the Weeder rational or delusional? And what about Wanamaker, sane or show more crazy?

Beginning the story with Nate, I did get a bit confused sometimes whether we were with Wanamaker, Snow, and the Weeder in the present time or with Nate in the past. The tactic actually increases tension within the novel as a whole. Well done, Mr. Littell, well done show less

An intriguing blend of espionage fiction and history, both real and imagined, past and present. A CIA officer dredging electronic information stumbles on an extra-curricular plot by a surprising combination of government officials.

An intriguing novel set in America, the action is split between the periods of the War of Independence in the late 1770s and the late 1980s. The events of the former times have an echo in the contemporary one, revealed by Silas Sibley’s researches into a distant relative and his own work for the CIA and his suspicions of a plot to cause an explosive ‘accident’ in Tehran in a bid to discredit Iran’s leadership. In a tense chase, Silas attempts to evade capture by those seeking to detonate the ‘accident’ and to stop it through contacts within the CIA, while not revealing their plot to the newspapers as he considers himself a patriot and does not want to embarrass the country. Littell’s writing keeps you in suspense show more throughout and leaves Silas’ outcome in balance until the final pages. show less

Littell is one of my favorite authors. I've come to expect a great story from him. This was not a great story, barely meh.

This was not good, there was this really strange counter plot going on about spying during the war for independence, and it totally jarred with the main plot. I didn't really understand the ending, I'm not sure who was real or imagined, or who was crazy or not. The only thing I do know is that the Admiral was gay, which is not something I look for in my reading.

Huge twist at the end