The Prodigal Spy: A Novel - Softcover

"An edgy spy thriller . . . [and] a tale of love--between father and son, man and woman--set against a foreboding background that is poignant and imminently believable. . . . Captivating."--Denver Post

"Compelling . . . intriguing . . . superb . . . reads beautifully and convinces utterly."--Wall Street Journal

"Intriguing...Kanon wonderfully conveys the paranoia of the times. . . . The Prodigal Spy has a richness of emotional layers usually not found in espionage novels." --USA Today

"Vivid . . . tense . . . reheats the Cold War with history, mystery and a political blast from the past."--People

"Kanon does a fine job . . . blending history, fiction, suspense and romance . . . but what he does the best is to turn more than a few moments in our history into a personal story that shows the reality of what we have done and can do to each other."--Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

In a time of accusations, treachery and lies, some secrets were heartbreaking....

Others were deadly.

Once, Nick Kotlar tried to save his father. From the angry questions. From the accusations. From a piece of evidence that only Nick knew about and that he destroyed—for his father. But in the Red Scare of 1950 Walter Kotlar could not be saved. Branded a spy, he fled the country, leaving behind a wife, a young son—and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room.

Now, twenty years later, Nick will get a second chance. Because a beautiful journalist has brought a message from his long-lost father, and Nick will follow her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Confronting a father he barely remembers and a secret that could change everything, Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy, and to expose the one person who knew the truth—and watched a family be destroyed.