William Rawle Weeks (1920–2009)

Well-written 1957 cold war espionage story. An American agent is tasked with making sure a beautiful woman reporter with left-leaning sympathies doesn't go to Russia and embarrass the USA. A rather simple plot is made memorable by Weeks' atmospheric descriptions of Brussels and Amsterdam, some seemingly realistic cloak and dagger spycraft, memorable scenes of violence, and a sense of reality throughout. At its heart is a complex lead character whose well-portrayed personal feelings are at the center of the story. There are other memorable characters as well, but I won't spoil the fun. The book goes on just a little too long at the end, but still has quite an effective conclusion. If you are lucky enough to come across this in a used book story or on someone's dusty bookshelf, grab it.

Sadly, this appears to be the author's only book, even though it won the Edgar for best first novel. There are no others on LibraryThing or on abebooks.… (mais)