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The Prodigal Spy
The Prodigal Spy
Author: Joseph Kanon
In a time of accusations, treachery and lies, some secrets were heartbreaking.... — Others were deadly. — Once, Nick Kotlar tried to save his father. From the angry questions. From the accusations. From a piece of evidence that only Nick knew about and that he destroyed--for his father. But in the Red Scare of 1950 Walter Kotlar could not be saved...  more »
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PBS Market Price: $8.09 or $4.19+1 credit
ISBN-13: 9780440225348
ISBN-10: 0440225345
Publication Date: 11/9/1999
Pages: 544
Rating:
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 38

3.3 stars, based on 38 ratings
Publisher: Island Books
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

familiagarduno avatar reviewed The Prodigal Spy on + 164 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This was the first book by Kanon that I read. I'm on the fence about his writing style - it seemed choppy and rushed, but at the same time, it read fast and easy. I can't think of one time that I got bored and skimmed a paragraph. I was surprised at the romantic twist and glad to see it wasn't written hastily or overly lengthy. It followed the style of the novel and added to the plot/storyline rather than taking away. The twist at the end ties up the loose ends magnificently and the turn is unbelievable. You won't be disappointed if you follow this story to the end! I have to give it 5 STARS and am working on Los Alamos already!
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jadaskye avatar reviewed The Prodigal Spy on + 122 more book reviews
I LIKED IT ALOT. GREAT LISTEN A+A+A+
reviewed The Prodigal Spy on + 249 more book reviews
Washington, 1950. The trouble with history, Nick Kotlar's father tells him, is that you have to live through it before you know how it'll come out. And for Walter Kotlar, a high-level State Department official, the stakes couldn't be higher: an ambitious congressman has accused him of treason. As Nick watches helplesslu, his family's privileged world is turned upside down in a frenzy of klieg lights and banging gavels. Then one snowy night the chief witness against his father plunges to her death and his father flees, leaving only an endless mystery and the stain of his defection. It would be better, Nick is told, to think of him as dead.
But twenty years later Walter Kotlar is still alive, and he enlists Molly, a young journalist, to bring Nick a disturbing message. He badly wants to see his son; after two decades of silence and isolation, he is desperate to end hid own Cold War. Resentful but intrigued, Nick agrees to accompany Molly to Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia for the painful reunion.
Once in Prague, Nick finds a clandestine world where nothing is what it seems--not the beautiful city, shadowy with menace; not the woman with whom he falls in love; and most of all not the man he thinks he no longer knows, yet still knows better than anyone. For Walter Kotlar has an impossible request: he wants to come home and he wants Nick to help. He also has a valuable secret about what really happened the night he walked out of Nick's life--and about the deadly conspiracy that still threatens them.


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