American Spy
Lauren Wilkinson, 2019
Random House
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812988284
Summary
What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love?
It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork.
So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes.
Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country.
Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place.
Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she’s being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent.
In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American.
Inspired by true events—Thomas Sankara is known as "Africa’s Che Guevara"—American Spy knits together a gripping spy thriller, a heartbreaking family drama, and a passionate romance. This is a face of the Cold War you’ve never seen before, and it introduces a powerful new literary voice. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Lauren Wilkinson earned an MFA in fiction and literary translation from Columbia University, and has taught writing at Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
She was a 2013 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellow, and has also received support from the MacDowell Colony and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Wilkinson grew up in New York and lives on the Lower East Side. American Spy is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[W]hile embracing ambitions and concerns that don’t always figure highly in the spy genre, [American Spy] is first and foremost a thriller…. Plenty to enjoy on its own terms, then, as a slick, well-observed thriller, but what adds depth are the perspectives offered by the central character…. [C]hallenging boundaries is what brave fiction does, and Wilkinson proves confident enough to carry it off. For a debut novel it’s remarkably assured, earning its genre stripes with panache, and addressing thought-provoking issues along the way.
New York Times Book Review
Lauren Wilkinson’s new novel, American Spy, is extraordinary in a lot of ways—most obviously because it places a female African American intelligence officer… at the center of a Cold War tale of political espionage. But also striking is the novel’s deeper recognition that, to some extent, rudimentary tradecraft is something all of her African American characters have learned as an everyday survival skill…. American Spy is a morally nuanced and atmospheric political thriller.
Washington Post
[Wilkinson's] first novel starts off with a literal bang, and never once lets up. American Spy is a beautifully paced spy thriller as well as a promising debut from a writer who's not content to rely on the settled tropes of any literary genre…. Wilkinson packs a lot of plot into American Spy…. But [she] handles the several threads in the novel deftly, and she has a real gift for pacing…. Above all, it's just so much fun to read ... [American Spy] marks the debut of an immensely talented writer who's refreshingly unafraid to take risks, and has the skills to make those risks pay off.
NPR
(Starred review) [U]nflinching, incendiary debut… a thrilling, razor-sharp examination of race, nationalism, and U.S. foreign policy that is certain to make Wilkinson’s name as one of the most engaging and perceptive young writers working today.
Publishers Weekly
Wilkinson works within the true history of Burkina Faso, blending high-stakes political drama and Marie’s contemplation of the sister she lost and what her own choices will mean for her sons. Appealing in its insightful characterizations, well-plotted action, and rich settings, this should find a large audience.
Booklist
There are many tangled strands to unravel here… [and] Wilkinson… navigates… this tale of divided loyalties with the poise of such classic masters as Eric Ambler and Graham Greene…. Wilkinson’s book is a noteworthy contribution.
Kirkus Reviews
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