BRENT GHELFI – The Verona Cable. Henry Holt, hardcover; First Edition, August 2009.

   Alexei Volkovoy, aka Volk, is an ex Soviet Military Covert agent, a one-legged man in the bloody kicking contest that is the Russian underworld in the wake of the fall of Communism, and the hero of this and two other novels from Brent Ghelfi.

   Tough, smart, ruthless, and human, Volk is a often caught in the crossfire between the former Russian secret police, the underworld, the Americans, and the complex and deadly past of the former Soviet Union.

   In The Verona Cable we meet him wounded and on the run in Los Angeles, after a mission has gone terribly wrong. It began back in Russia when an American cinematographer shows up murdered in a warehouse owned by Volk.

   After a rough time with the secret police Volk is freed to return home to his lover Valya (like him, an amputee, and victim of Russia’s violent and tragic recent past — and yes, the metaphor is a bit heavy handed, though to give Ghelfi credit he uses it sparingly — the wounded lovers taking shelter in each others arms to make one whole individual …).

   Soon Volk discovers the dead American cinematographer was once a Soviet agent operating in the United States during the Cold War like Alger Hiss or the Rosenbergs, and is somehow tied to Volk’s father, a disgraced Soviet pilot who may have defected to the West with a high tech Soviet spy plane when Volk was born. More importantly the so called Verona Cable on the dead man may point to the legendary Source 19, a highly place American traitor who had access as high as the wartime White House.

   There are secrets that some will still kill to find out.

   Which is how Volk finds himself sent to Los Angeles on a quest that is both personal and of interest to the Russians and the Americans, with everyone using him and everyone willing to sacrifice him for the truth — or to conceal it. A truth that proves to be an elaborate and cunning espionage coup that has been in the making for over sixty years and could still prove a decisive blow even now.

   So that Volk finds himself a stranger in a strange land, alone and surrounded by enemies:

   Ghelfi, I’m happy to say, writes rings around many of today’s thriller writers in this field, and while I don’t think he is quite in the Le Carre class as a cover blurb by Brad Thor suggests, he is penning intelligent and well-written tales of international intrigue that rise out of Cold War tensions and modern complexities. His Russian backgrounds and settings give a feel for the current nature of Russian life without overwhelming the reader in the exotic setting.

   That said, an early flashback within a flashback structure is a bit confusing, and though the writing is certainly good, I’m not always a fan of first person present tense narrative in a book this long. It does have some immediacy, but it doesn’t lend itself to much outside of action scenes.

   I’ll be looking for the earlier books in the series and later ones. Volk, Valya, his ally the General, and American NSA operative Brock Matthews are interesting characters with believable ties to Volk, and with so many plot absurdities in many modern thrillers, it is nice to find a writer who can still play variations on classic espionage themes like double agents and treason

   And Ghelfi can write when he pauses long enough to:

   If Ghelfi can find a balance between the well written action scenes, the complexities of plot, and that kind of evocative writing he is going to be a thriller writer to watch. He is already one to read.

       The Alexei Volkovoy series —

1. Volk’s Game. Henry Holt, hc, 2007; Picador, trade pb, Aug 2008.

2. Volk’s Shadow. Henry Holt, hc, 2008; Picador, trade pb, Feb 2010, as Shadow of the Wolf.

3. The Verona Cable. Henry Holt, hc, 2009.