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What a serendipitous pleasure it was to read this taut thriller during the week that the CIA declared war on itself for real. In case you missed it, during the weeks following November 8 2004, many of the top agents in the Agency resigned en masse in protest over the newly-appointed director's abuse of and utter disregard for experienced agents. These real-life headlines lent HOPSCOTCH a resonance and credibility it might otherwise have lacked. This Tor/Forge reissue is part of their new Otto Penzler Presents series. This is the third book in a program the publisher has established to bring three Edgar-winning titles back into print each year. Otto Penzler selects the books and writes a forward for each of the new releases. He has earned a place of honor in the mystery community with his 1977 Edgar for THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYSTERY AND DETECTION, for his own imprint at Carroll and Graf where he publishes new mystery titles, and for his Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan. HOPSCOTCH won its Edgar in 1976. As Penzler notes in his introduction, this was a time when the moral absolutism of World War II was fading and the moral ambiguity of the cold war was fast becoming the stuff of popular fiction. It was also before the intelligence community had been totally discredited by the absence of WMDs in Iraq and we could still believe in spies with extraordinary skill and intelligence. Miles Kendig, a man entering middle age, has served the Central Intelligence Agency for more than twenty years. He's recently been forced into retirement after his cover was blown during the violent end of an assignment that left him with a bullet in his brain. He is deeply depressed and unable to find meaning in any activity. He's an adrenaline junkie in withdrawal, seeking out the thrill of gambling tables and finding himself unable to care about his cards. One day, he's approached by a senior Soviet agent who offers him a job as an operative. Kendig is a patriot and won't switch to the other side so easily, but the lure of the game awakens an enthusiasm that he hasn't felt in years. In a last desperate attempt to feel something other than the numbness that's taken his spirit, he writes a book exposing many of the Agency's covert operations, including the assassinations of foreign heads of state. He releases the book, chapter by chapter, to his agent in New York and to his many publishers across the globe. It's obviously important for spies of all nationalities to neutralize Kendig before the book is completely released. Intelligence agencies across the globe overcome ideological differences in order to maintain their state secrets. In this race to the death, Miles is out to prove that the old tradecraft of the WWII era spy can beat the computer-based operations of the generation now running things at Langley. HOPSCOTCH is a rollicking roller-coaster ride that will take you back to the days when the world of espionage was populated by high priests with high purposes.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, November 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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