July 19, 2021
The Cold War provides the background for Thornton’s suspenseful latest (after And They Called It Camelot), about an American spy for the Soviets turned FBI informant. In 1963, White House tour guide Catherine Gray, 21, confronts an ailing, alcoholic Elizabeth Bentley, 55, over unexplained circumstances (“You ruined my life, you Communist bitch. And now you’re going to pay for it,” Catherine says, pointing a gun at her). Elizabeth buys some time by relating her life story, beginning in 1933 New York City when she naively attends a Communist Party meeting. Ten years later, Elizabeth becomes a handler for a spy ring operating in the U.S., handing over secrets to the Soviets. When her distrustful clients demand Elizabeth turn over her contacts’ names, she refuses; a confrontation with the lethal Soviet secret police NKVD results, prompting Elizabeth to become an FBI informant out of self-preservation. Her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee helps convict Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, among others, and her story culminates with a shattering revelation of what brought Catherine to her doorstep. Though the prose can feel hackneyed, for the most part this glides on noirish cool. Harrowing anecdotes and juicy spycraft will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary.
September 1, 2021
Fictionalized biographies of historical women are Thornton's specialty (her most recent is And They Called It Camelot: A Novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis). Her eighth novel features Elizabeth Bentley, a Vassar-educated woman who joined the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) because of its opposition to Hitler. A social misfit, she also hoped it could help her make at least one friend in New York City. Elizabeth falls in love with her boss and through him becomes a spymaster for the USSR. Eventually, her usefulness to the CPUSA fades, and she finds refuge as an FBI informant. Bentley's memoir (Out of Bondage) makes her briefly famous in the 1950s, but the Rosenbergs and others stay in the public eye, while Elizabeth has been for the most part forgotten. Thornton's novel hews closely to the factual details of Elizabeth's life but adds the emotional underpinnings that make her more than a lurid headline. VERDICT The smashing plot piledriver is the confrontation between Elizabeth and Catherine, a vengeful young orphan whose mother's death may have been caused by Elizabeth's espionage. The wily Elizabeth snatches center stage and propels readers through the Red Scare and the opening years of the Cold War. Even though fictional, Thornton's interpretation rings true and tragic.--Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2021
November, 1963: Kennedy has just been assassinated, the Cold War is in full swing, and Catherine Gray is in the apartment of former Russian spy Elizabeth Bentley, seeking revenge. Untangling the complex web that connects the two women is the key to Elizabeth's survival. In the mid-1930s, Elizabeth was working a series of dead-end jobs when a budding friendship brings her to a meeting of the American League Against War and Fascism--better known as the Communist Party. Before Elizabeth understands what she's doing, she's a spy, operating under the charismatic Jacob Golos, a high-powered Communist leader--and, against all protocols, Elizabeth's lover. How can Cat be sure that a woman who built her career around lies and misdirection is telling the truth? Thornton's latest blends Cold War espionage thriller and biographical fiction into an engaging, difficult-to-put down story that readers will savor. She carefully explores Elizabeth's motivations, explaining how a nice American girl from Connecticut finds herself passing secrets to the Soviet Union. Readers who enjoyed Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept (2019) will be engrossed by this biographical novel about America's Red Spy Queen.
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