Agent in Place

by Helen MacInnes and MACINNES HELEN

Book Overview

"I am an agent in place, a mole that stays underground and works out of sight."Chuck Kelso is an idealist. When he steals a top-secret NATO memorandum, he only intends to leak it to the press; but it... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151039674
• ISBN13: 9780151039678
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Queeb if the Genre

I began reading Helen MacInnes' books when I was a teenager. Now that I have grandchildren in that age bracket, her books are still among the best. The topics are well researched; the characters believable; locales graphically presented; the story line ties up neatly and securely on all points. For anyone for enjoys spy thrillers - no matter what the era - Helen MacInnes is more than a good read. She is a must. First reads should be "Decision at Delphi", "While Still We Live", "The Double Image".

disinformation, espionage, and misplaced idealism

This is an unusual MacInnes book. For one thing, there is no romance plot. Also, there is no real central character. And the setting shifts dramatically partway through the book. It was strongly influenced by Watergate, the (one-sided?) rush towards detent, and probably most directly, the "Pentagon Papers." It starts out from the point of view of a Soviet deep mole, now a Congressional aide in Washington DC. He is instructed to procure a certain document. The man who procures the document is loyal to the US, but thinks the least sensitive part should be published openly. So he leaks it to the press, but he has no idea that his friend is a Soviet spy. He leaves the spy alone with the document for a short time, and the damage is done. Then the focus shifts to the the brother and sister-in-law of the dupe who released the document. The action also shifts to Europe, where a high ranking western spy (who had to flee Russia when the document revealed his identity) is being debriefed and protected. But the Soviet agent turns up again, and so does the brother who exposed the document. And why is the escaped agent behaving so strangely? Is he who he seems? The action intensifies as secrets become dangerous and lies become weapons.