Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A 14-year-old boy's suspicion that his mom's boyfriend might be a Russian spy ignites this busy comedic thriller from Atkins (Don't Let the Devil Ride). In 1985 Atlanta, Peter Bennett worries that his scientist mom's new flame, Gary--who has a funny accent, is not in the phone book, and keeps a gun in his car--is less interested in romance than in gaining access to her work for a government contractor. Peter knows that nobody in authority will take a high school freshman seriously, so he gets in touch with his favorite author, crime novelist Dennis "Hotch" Hotchner, whose writing career flamed out a decade ago. Hotch agrees to help, but trouble soon follows: a Russian hit man appears on the scene, a coworker of Peter's mom is found murdered, and the FBI gets involved. When Peter's kidnapped, Hotch and his sidekick, a brawny drag queen named Jackie Demure, shift into high gear. Atkins peppers the exuberant action with colorful references to '80s pop culture, but as the cast of characters expands, the book's many subplots start to stall the narrative momentum. It's hard not to admire his ambition, but Atkins has done better before. Agent: Esther Newberg, CAA. (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
This superb new thriller from Atkins (Don't Let the Devil Ride) is set in 1985, with the Cold War between the United States and the USSR going strong. The intelligence agencies of both nations have attempted to penetrate the other's veil of secrecy, but 1985 has been dubbed "the year of the spy," with many high-profile espionage arrests of intelligence agents. Russian spy Vitaly Yurchenko is looking to defect to the States to reconnect with a former love. Yurchenko possesses information that may directly impact the forthcoming summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, 14-year-old Peter Bennett suspects his mother's new boyfriend is a Russian spy. Suspicion rises when his mother's coworker is brutally murdered; Peter's mother and the deceased woman worked at a company involved in top-secret scientific research. Peter contacts an over-the-hill pulp writer and begs for his assistance in unmasking a Soviet spy. VERDICT Atkins captures the peak paranoia of the waning days of the Cold War and spins a fantastic yarn filled with deception, double-crosses, action, and drama. Fans of Red Dawn or The Americans will flock to this brilliant novel.--Philip Zozzaro
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Atkins, who experimented inDon't Let the Devil Ride (2024) with grafting an international thriller onto a regional crime story, goes full tilt this time without ever betraying his roots. Whether or not it's true, as men's magazine writer Dennis X. Hotchner's agent has ruled, that "that old hard-boiled Mickey Spillane stuff is dead," 1985 may just usher in a new period for the genre. Some time after deputy director Vitaly Yurchenko of the KGB's First Directorate defects to the U.S., high school freshman Peter Bennett becomes convinced that Gary Powers, the bodybuilder who's become the latest of the many men to share Connie Bennett's bed, is actually a Russian spy who's bent on hurting his mother and his homeland. Naturally, the Atlanta police pay no attention to Peter, but he does manage to attract the attention of Hotch, whose dreamy plans are backed up by the force majeure of Jackie Demure, a drag queen who once played defensive end for the Falcons. Meanwhile, federal agent Daniel J. Rafferty is sucked into lap dancer Trinity Velvet's life when she shoots Larry, the ex who's stalking her, with Rafferty's gun, and KGB assassin Lisica, aka the White Fox, kills her asset Jennifer Buckner, a secretary and friend of Connie's at Scientific Atlanta. Jenny's purse doesn't contain a crucial computer disk everyone's looking for, but it does contain the business card of Sylvia Weaver, of the Atlanta FBI's counterintelligence squad. Throughout the densely plotted complications that follow as these plot strands crisscross and tangle, Atkins never loses his sharp focus on troubled or wacky individual characters far more important than geopolitical struggles. International intrigue in a series of amusing, arresting closeups. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
