The Firebird Affair

by Dusko Doder

The Firebird Affair centers on the suspicious death of Emily, the beautiful wife of Washington Tribune correspondent Todd Martin. In 1991, she collapsed over lunch with a friend in a Moscow restaurant. A massive heart attack, Moscow authorities said and the US Embassy concurred. They shipped her body home to the US, without Todd even being aware she had died. He was out of contact covering one of the conflicts flaring up as the Soviet Union disintegrated.

But Todd has managed to rebuild his life; he's now the Tribune's chess columnist, from time to time drifting in and out of depression. He has always been doubtful Emily's death was an accident. His estranged son Rick is certain his mother was murdered, and blames his father for failing to protect her.

By 2002, Todd gets an opportunity to establish the truth after a Russian spy approaches the CIA wanting to defect. The spy reveals the existence of a KGB mole inside the US government. He also alleges that the KGB played a role in Emily's death by sneaking a psychotropic drug into her drink. Holz, the former Moscow CIA station chief, now a senior CIA official, offers Todd the chance to go to Moscow on a rogue mission to uncover the traitor's identity. Todd undertakes the mission that leads him as well as Holz to confront wholly unexpected results.

The Firebird Affair explores the consequences of duplicity and betrayal, in both Moscow and Washington. It revolves around the actual KGB-led plot to remove Gorbachev from power, capturing the drama of the last months of Cold War and the subsequent changes in our public life.

Nook

First published October 18, 2011

About the author

Dusko Doder was an American journalist. He was the head of the Moscow bureau of the The Washington Post from 1981 until 1985.

Reviews

[Harry Allagree · Rating 4 out of 5]

The words "A Thriller" in the title are no exaggeration! This was a good spy thriller. Very timely, too, given all the talk about recent Russian interference in the American political system. Set in the 1991-early 2000 era, when things were quickly changing in both U.S. & Russia, it's a believable peak into the what goes on in intelligence agencies, & the story emphasizes the effects on many people, including families, of political decisions.

The main character, Todd Martin, a journalist, is a believable one. He grapples with a lot of issues which face all of us at some time in our lives. Do we ever really know ourselves? or the convictions which we say guide our lives? What are our loyalties, really?

Even the love scenes are done sensitively & honestly.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zero stars if I could. This book was not proofread. There were so many typos it was distracting. I gave up at 11%.