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The Defection of A. J. Lewinter
A. J. Lewinter is an American scientist, for years an insignificant cog in America's complex defense machinery. While at an academic conference in Tokyo, though, Lewinter contacts the KGB station chief and says he wants to defect. He tantalizes the Russians with U.S. military secrets he claims to possess, but is his defection genuine? Neither the Russians nor the Americans are sure and Lewinter is swept up in a terrifying political chess match of deceit and treachery. Each side struggles to anticipate its opponents next move and the superpowers are locked in a deadly contest that exploits friendships, destroys loyalties, and manipulates human beings as expendable pawns. The Defection of A. J. Lewinter is a masterpiece of irony and intrigue, an unconventional and gripping anatomy of a defection.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
36 people are currently reading
539 people want to read
About the author
Robert Littell
43 books434 followersAn American author residing in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He's also an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
January 22, 2014
A few years ago I came across Robert Littell, a highly recommended author in the spy genre-someone, I was told, who was equal or better than John le Carré one of my favorite authors. I have previously read Legends, which explores what happens to someone who has so many legends or identities that he begins to lose sight of who he really is and am planning to read The Company, a 900 page novel about the 40 year history of the CIA, but before I began such a huge endeavor I though it might be fun to read Littell’s first book written in 1973, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter.
A.J Lewinter is an eccentric physicist working on the ceramics use in the nose cones of ballistic missiles when one day he decides to defect to the Soviet Union. Although at one level it seems like Lewinter whose ceramic specialty is not top secret technology, does not have anything of much importance to give to the Soviet Union, a cat and mouse game ensues with each side trying to out bluff and out connive the other in order to gain an advantage in the Cold War. On the US side is a cold and calculating CIA operative named Diamond who heads up the investigation into what Lewinter knows and what he could possibly be giving the Soviets, while at the same time trying to send signals to the Soviets which he hopes will trick them into thinking that Lewinter is a fake or suspect his information. On the Soviet side, Pogodin must evaluate whether Lewinter who claims to have the missile trajectory codes is who he says he is or is really just a plant of the CIA.
As each side goes to greater and greater lengths to protect its secrets and guess what the other side is up to in order to gain an advantage, the absurdity of the whole situation becomes both wickedly funny and morbidly sad. Diamond is ruthless and calculating, stopping at nothing to out think and out maneuver Pogodin into thinking that Lewinter is a CIA plant and that the information he has is fake. Pogodin on the other hand knows that the risks for him in making the wrong decision regarding Lewinter could not only have lasting consequences on his career but also on the stability of the Soviet government who if they knew the codes were real could then spend less on guns and more on butter and create a better life for its citizens.
Littell seemed oddly prescient since I was reading this when Snowden and his revelations about the NSA were in the news. I could imagine both the NSA and CIA trying to do the same kind of damage control as Littell describes. Interestingly early on in the Snowden scandal, the idea that he couldn’t possibly know what he claimed to know since he didn’t have the necessary clearance level seemed to be what was mainly in the news, and then in a few days that changed just as it did with Lewinter.
This is a spy story, without a lot of car chases or physical action, but Littell manages to make the cerebral cat and mouse maneuvering between Pogodin and Diamond as thrilling as if it were a car chase!
Read more reviews at Brendasbookshelf@wordpress.com.
A.J Lewinter is an eccentric physicist working on the ceramics use in the nose cones of ballistic missiles when one day he decides to defect to the Soviet Union. Although at one level it seems like Lewinter whose ceramic specialty is not top secret technology, does not have anything of much importance to give to the Soviet Union, a cat and mouse game ensues with each side trying to out bluff and out connive the other in order to gain an advantage in the Cold War. On the US side is a cold and calculating CIA operative named Diamond who heads up the investigation into what Lewinter knows and what he could possibly be giving the Soviets, while at the same time trying to send signals to the Soviets which he hopes will trick them into thinking that Lewinter is a fake or suspect his information. On the Soviet side, Pogodin must evaluate whether Lewinter who claims to have the missile trajectory codes is who he says he is or is really just a plant of the CIA.
As each side goes to greater and greater lengths to protect its secrets and guess what the other side is up to in order to gain an advantage, the absurdity of the whole situation becomes both wickedly funny and morbidly sad. Diamond is ruthless and calculating, stopping at nothing to out think and out maneuver Pogodin into thinking that Lewinter is a CIA plant and that the information he has is fake. Pogodin on the other hand knows that the risks for him in making the wrong decision regarding Lewinter could not only have lasting consequences on his career but also on the stability of the Soviet government who if they knew the codes were real could then spend less on guns and more on butter and create a better life for its citizens.
Littell seemed oddly prescient since I was reading this when Snowden and his revelations about the NSA were in the news. I could imagine both the NSA and CIA trying to do the same kind of damage control as Littell describes. Interestingly early on in the Snowden scandal, the idea that he couldn’t possibly know what he claimed to know since he didn’t have the necessary clearance level seemed to be what was mainly in the news, and then in a few days that changed just as it did with Lewinter.
This is a spy story, without a lot of car chases or physical action, but Littell manages to make the cerebral cat and mouse maneuvering between Pogodin and Diamond as thrilling as if it were a car chase!
Read more reviews at Brendasbookshelf@wordpress.com.
December 2, 2008
A.J. Lewinter is a scientist with a specialty in ceramics, working at MIT on a project about ceramic nosecones for ballistic missiles, and as the book opens, in Japan for a conference. After spending some time at a Noh theater performance, he goes to the Russian Embassy, where he makes it known that he wants to defect. At first, they do not take him seriously, but when questioned further, he offers up a formula and the next thing you know, he's on a plane for the USSR with nothing but a dozen bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo and 500 Chlor-Trimetron allergy pills. And here begins a story that is a bit of a mind boggler. The book is structured like a chess game, and within that structure the actions of international agents also play out like a chess game, each side trying to make the other side guess as to whether or not a) Lewinter's defection is genuine, or b) whether or not the information he has to offer the USSR is worthless or priceless. I won't say more about the plot, because any info would totally wreck someone else's reading experience.
The world of espionage is fascinating, and I'm sure that a lot of the tactics used in this book have some basis in fact, because it's really difficult to believe someone could just make up the convoluted machinations of our intelligence operatives. The writing is absolutely superb and I was not prepared for the ending. I spent way too much time trying to figure out "what would happen if..." after I finished the book. To me, that speaks highly of the author, and now I can't wait to get my hands on more by Littell. As if the tbr pile wasn't huge enough already -- sigh--.
Definitely recommended; I'd say that people who enjoy novels of espionage, the Cold War, and the inner workings of our intelligence agencies would enjoy it the most.
The world of espionage is fascinating, and I'm sure that a lot of the tactics used in this book have some basis in fact, because it's really difficult to believe someone could just make up the convoluted machinations of our intelligence operatives. The writing is absolutely superb and I was not prepared for the ending. I spent way too much time trying to figure out "what would happen if..." after I finished the book. To me, that speaks highly of the author, and now I can't wait to get my hands on more by Littell. As if the tbr pile wasn't huge enough already -- sigh--.
Definitely recommended; I'd say that people who enjoy novels of espionage, the Cold War, and the inner workings of our intelligence agencies would enjoy it the most.
April 17, 2009
A ceramics specialist involved in designing the nose-cones for MIRV missiles defects to the USSR, and the various intelligence organizations on both sides of the Iron Curtain attempt to evaluate the defection. Is it important? Is it a genuine defection or a US attempt to embarrass the Soviets or plant an agent among them? What could Lewinter know that might be of any significance? And so on and so forth, to endless ramification. Lewinter himself barely appears in the book, and we never discover the answer to any of these questions; the central character is really the swirling paranoia endemic on either side during the Cold War, and not just in the intelligence communities. We're shocked by the ruthlessness with which some of the Russians behave in service of this paranoia; but Littell portrays their US counterparts behaving equally coldbloodedly. These are the dimwits who spend an inordinate amount of our tax dollars on what they insist is realpolitik when in fact it's just buffoonery -- buffoonery that'd be hilarious if it didn't destroy so many lives and strangle at birth so many endeavours that might improve the human lot. Neither side is remotely interested in -- regards as entirely trivial -- what is, if it works, the item of real value that Lewinter bears: the technology for an improved and environmentally friendly method of waste disposal.
This isn't the masterpiece of the spy thriller genre promised on the cover, for the very good reason it's not a thriller at all, and clearly has no intention whatsoever of trying to be one. Instead, it's a satire -- quite often a very funny one, more often a very dark one. It's in no sense a gripping read; but I think it's probably a very good book. I'm glad I read it, and in due course I may very well read it again.
As an aside, Penguin should be ashamed of themselves. I read the 2003 reissue, which has clearly been OCRed and typeset from an earlier edition without the benefit of any competent proofreading. There's a secondary character whose surname I still don't know, because two different versions of it (Ferri and Fern) turn up with equal frequency. There are countless irritating minor literals (missing close-quotes are a frequent culprit), and in several places the text is so garbled as to be incomprehensible. This is beyond shoddy.
August 21, 2019
Robert Littell is an unusual author; occupying a position somewhere in the middle-tier of espionage writing. He's not a household name but he's definitely known within the genre. Brooklyn-born, he produced a steady string of espionage titles beginning in the early 70's and continuing on today. I would characterize his writing as deliberately seeking a different path than any of his more famous competitors. Littell opts for more innovative narrative structures and off-speed pacing in his works, than is usually the norm. He doesn't want to be predictable--he writes shorter, slower, and denser. He works in 'psychological miniature' --'cameo', rather than 'fresco'. His tone is mellow, subdued, understated. There's no 'recurring characters' as far as I know. With rich and mordant cynicism, he typically hones in on the psyche of people caught up in the covert world; probing the pathology and corruption which strikes people who lie for a living. His works sometime feel claustrophobic; filled with moral ambiguities and ethical doubts. The reader is not only unable to tell who is good/bad; but usually wonders--at the end of the story-- who won and who lost. Plot is not vital. Like Le Carre, Littell emphasizes the seediness of information-gathering--the fumbling of bureaucracy--the despair of diplomacy--the spiritlessness and purposelessness of it all. He paints the "griminess" of the profession. The seamiest, most unflattering, most unsavory figures populate his casts. Betrayers; chiselers; money-grubbers; blackmailers. Littell's greatest fame so far (prior to his 'The Company') rests on the well-received movie adaptation of
'The Amateur'
starring fine actor, John Savage.
February 17, 2012
A great cold war spy novel. The book had plenty of intrigue, competing motivations, and a darkly cynical tone that I really enjoyed. I listened to the audio version which was narrated by Scott Brick.
July 12, 2020
Great surprise. Advertised as the American John Le Carré. Just read Le Carré’s The Russia House, same subject. Preferred this book, more to the point. Surely going to read more of this author; good thriller writers are hard to find.
Want to read
March 7, 2019Synopsis: Lewinter is an American scientist playing both sides against the middle. He's telling the Russians he wants to defect but does he?
August 27, 2011
It's pretty sad when I suddenly realized that I was nostalgic for the days of the Cold War. It was so easy having a clear-cut enemy, as opposed to finding out that it is we who, in fact, are our own worst enemies. One of the moderators of a Yahoo! group to which I belong recommended The Defection of A. J. Lewinter to me -- the first of a series of Cold War thrillers by Robert Littell.
I was quite pleased by this densely-packed study of what happens -- on both sides of the Iron Curtain -- when an American with access to American military secrets defects to the Soviet Union. Stored in his brain are the trajectories of the MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) that were the latest thing in 1973, when the book was written. These MIRVs would enable a single ICBM missile to have multiple nuclear payloads, as well as radar-jamming units and drones to confuse the Soviets.
Lewinter himself is something of a no one, a man who really wants to work on a system to handle the nation's garbage, but winds up working for the military at MIT. Once he defects, the attention shifts to Leo Diamond on the U.S. side and Yevgeny Mikhailovich Pogodin for the Russkies.
What I liked about the book is that its author understood the complex moves on both sides involving trust vs distrust, belief vs disbelief, small victories vs large defeats, and so on. It is, in the end, a chess game of sorts, a fact that Littell underlines by labeling his sections with chess terms.
Why do I feel this nostalgia? It was a time of deadly fear, whose nadir was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. I suppose that nostalgia involves a sense of moral certitudes that we as Americans just don't feel at the present time. So it goes.
I was quite pleased by this densely-packed study of what happens -- on both sides of the Iron Curtain -- when an American with access to American military secrets defects to the Soviet Union. Stored in his brain are the trajectories of the MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) that were the latest thing in 1973, when the book was written. These MIRVs would enable a single ICBM missile to have multiple nuclear payloads, as well as radar-jamming units and drones to confuse the Soviets.
Lewinter himself is something of a no one, a man who really wants to work on a system to handle the nation's garbage, but winds up working for the military at MIT. Once he defects, the attention shifts to Leo Diamond on the U.S. side and Yevgeny Mikhailovich Pogodin for the Russkies.
What I liked about the book is that its author understood the complex moves on both sides involving trust vs distrust, belief vs disbelief, small victories vs large defeats, and so on. It is, in the end, a chess game of sorts, a fact that Littell underlines by labeling his sections with chess terms.
Why do I feel this nostalgia? It was a time of deadly fear, whose nadir was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. I suppose that nostalgia involves a sense of moral certitudes that we as Americans just don't feel at the present time. So it goes.
March 2, 2011
Why did A.J Lewinter defect to the Soviets and what did he take with him? These questions occupy both the Soviet and American intelligence agencies, as well as the reader, as Mr. Littell shows us what might have been going on inside these agencies after such a defection. This is not an espionage thriller in the style of Jason Bourne, and it is more analytical and with less action than even Le Carre's novels. It is more of a psychological espionage novel. It is about the motivations, fears, uncertainties and jealousies of the intelligence operators. But it is fascinating. A prominent character is a chess grandmaster and not coincidentally references are made comparing espionage to a chess game. But when espionage is treated as a game, new, unanticipated problems arise. In particular, if one side is using game strategy, is the other side also playing the game, or not. Lives depend on answering that question.
June 3, 2014
Audiobook Review
read by Scott Brick
3 3/4 Stars
A.J. Lewinter is a mid-level U.S. rocket scientist, a neurotic dweeb with a failed marriage, a career he would prefer was something else, and a hair-brained idea that if he defects to Russia, maybe they would find his ideas of great interest, particularly his 'Solid Waste Disposal' scheme. Littell's 'Defection' is almost tongue-in-cheek satire of the intelligence services of both the U.S. and Russia in the 1970's. The book is almost comedic, particularly the interviews of Lewinter's cohorts and friends, who are more interested in themselves than him. The characters assembled for this short work are all either narcissistic or eccentric, all portraying exaggerated personalities. Although not a sweeping epic like The Company, I thoroughly enjoyed Lewinter.
read by Scott Brick
3 3/4 Stars
A.J. Lewinter is a mid-level U.S. rocket scientist, a neurotic dweeb with a failed marriage, a career he would prefer was something else, and a hair-brained idea that if he defects to Russia, maybe they would find his ideas of great interest, particularly his 'Solid Waste Disposal' scheme. Littell's 'Defection' is almost tongue-in-cheek satire of the intelligence services of both the U.S. and Russia in the 1970's. The book is almost comedic, particularly the interviews of Lewinter's cohorts and friends, who are more interested in themselves than him. The characters assembled for this short work are all either narcissistic or eccentric, all portraying exaggerated personalities. Although not a sweeping epic like The Company, I thoroughly enjoyed Lewinter.
March 22, 2021
Robert Littell is quite an atypical writer, it is as if Michelangelo, after painting the Sistine Chapel, made only cameos. Littlell's Sistine Chapel is The Company, a wide-breadth, epic espionage saga which can be counted among the classics of the genre. After that he just wrote small stories, with mixed results.
The Defection od A J Lewinter is among the most successful ones; a bitterly ironic play of roles, a surrealistic comedy of errors. Nothing extraordinary but well written and quite enjoyable.
The Defection od A J Lewinter is among the most successful ones; a bitterly ironic play of roles, a surrealistic comedy of errors. Nothing extraordinary but well written and quite enjoyable.
July 11, 2012
This clever spy novel would be comic if it weren't so plausible. Is the defector Lewinter a fraud or real? What is the impact on the Russian economy if the information they've been given is true? What is the US going to do about the defection? Schemes and counter schemes, bluff and double bluff, right to the last sentence.
September 26, 2020
Having grown up during the Cold War, I know enjoy reading novels about the Cold War since it was\is clear who the "bad guys" are. This book, about the defection of an American scientist, is a quick read. It's strong on the procedurals (how the Americans and Russians react to the defection) and the story is laced with dry humor and irony. Especially at the end of the book.
July 18, 2011
This early Littell is a good indicator of much of Littell's future themes: duplicity, bureaucratic infighting, irony, subversion, etc. One of his most influential works, athough probably not his best, but a great early effort.
August 5, 2013
Another home run by Littell. A fast paced spy novel - easily read in a siting or two. Of course the genius of Littell is not necessarily the story. That is secondary. It is his character development as in all his novels that make them all five star. This is another one.
September 27, 2017
A taut novel of espionage that seems a little dated now. Employing ironic parallelism to heighten dramatic surprise, this book highlights the kafkaesque absurdism--and the impossibility of being wholly subservient to an ideology and simultaneously claiming an abstract moral superiority.
January 29, 2008
Littell's first and best in my view. They've gradually gone downhill from this one.
February 4, 2016
extremely concise, little gem
April 4, 2016
My absolute favorite spy novel. It's the most accurate I've found in capturing the feel of actually working within the intelligence community.
January 11, 2017
It took a bit to figure out what was going on, and I put this down for a while and came back to it a couple of months later. But once I figured out what was going on, I sped through the rest in two days.
This is spy/thriller, but less James Bond than John LeCarre novel. Lewinter defects to Russia, bringing with him secret plans for the trajectories of MIRV warheads....or did he?
The entire novel consists of a complex multi-layered chess game on both the Russian side (is Lewinter a real defector with real information, or is he a fake defector, trying to send Russia on a wild goose chase?), and from the US side (do they try to convince the Russians Lewinter is a fake, or would that just convince the Russians he is legitimate).
The problem with foci pushing on the chess game is that we never get any sense of the inner life of any of the characters--including Lewinter, but also including most of the Russians and all of the Americans. Ironically, the best developed character is a marginal Russian author/intellectual, who briefly interacts with Lewinter at a party.
Highly recommended.
This is spy/thriller, but less James Bond than John LeCarre novel. Lewinter defects to Russia, bringing with him secret plans for the trajectories of MIRV warheads....or did he?
The entire novel consists of a complex multi-layered chess game on both the Russian side (is Lewinter a real defector with real information, or is he a fake defector, trying to send Russia on a wild goose chase?), and from the US side (do they try to convince the Russians Lewinter is a fake, or would that just convince the Russians he is legitimate).
The problem with foci pushing on the chess game is that we never get any sense of the inner life of any of the characters--including Lewinter, but also including most of the Russians and all of the Americans. Ironically, the best developed character is a marginal Russian author/intellectual, who briefly interacts with Lewinter at a party.
Highly recommended.
January 13, 2022
This is a 1973 Cold War spy novel by American author Robert Littell. The setting is in early 1970s split between the United States and USSR. The story is as the title suggests: the defection of an American scientist called A. J. Lewinter, and how does each side (both the US and USSR) handled the aftermath. The book is designed like a chess-game, with each side taking each step that takes into anticipation of how the other side will interpret and react to each step. The book is essentially about how US tried to convince USSR that Lewinter was a fake defector and therefore his information should not be believed; and for the Russians to figure out whether Lewinter was a real defector with accurate information. Overall, I find the book very average. While the plots and counter-plots are interesting, in the end the complex level of mind-games still do not make the story a really engaging one. I would rate the book 3.5 Star on a 5 Star scale.
Spoiler Alert. The story is about the defection of American scientist A. J. (Augustus Jerome) Lewinter and its aftermath. Lewinter was an associate professor at M.I.T. and an expert in ceramic engineering. For the last four years he has been working on ceramic nose cones for the U.S. military’s nuclear missiles program. Specifically, its MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry) Program, which allows one missile to carry multiple warheads that can target multiple targets at the same time. Lewinter, who was suspected to have a photographic memory, came across some top-secret files that contained detailed warhead trajectory information for the American MIRV program. The Russians have for years found themselves not able to build an anti-missile defense system against American ballistic missiles because a MIRV missile has too many warheads for them to track (especially many of are just decoys and antiradar systems). However, with Lewinter’s information, they would have a much easier time knowing which warhead is a real nuclear warhead just by comparing it to Lewinter’s trajectory information. Essentially, anyone who knew these trajectories could program a computer so that it could tell within seconds, using inputs from tracking devices, which incoming blips were real warheads, which were decoys, which were jamming devices.
The Americans, led by a Leo Diamond (who has previously been pushed out of the CIA because of a botched operation), immediately scrambled to figure out what valuable information Lewinter has that would interest the Russians enough to take him in as a defector. They easily concluded that Lewinter’s research expertise: ceramic nose cone, is not really attractive to the Russians. After some digging, they finally realized that Lewinter has come across the top-secret warhead trajectory file. If the Russians believe Lewinter and use the information to develop an anti-missile defense system, that could seriously compromise American nuclear missiles’ effectiveness. Diamond and company therefore came up with a plan to try to convince the Russians that Lewinter was a fake defector planted by the US intelligence community to provide Russian with fake information, so that the Russians would waste energy building an anti-missile defense system that would be useless.
The Russian team was initially led by Yefgeny Mikhailovich Pogodin, the KGB station chief in Tokyo. Lewinter defected when he was travelling to Japan for a conference and he went to the Soviet Embassy in Tokyo to seek political asylum. It was Pogodin who initially interviewed Lewinter in Tokyo and sponsored his defection and secretly flew him back to Russia. Later, the Lewinter project was taken over by Minister Boris Avksentiev, a very powerful politician and a member of Politburo. On the one hand, Lewinter’s information seemed like a gift from heaven because it finally allowed Russia to have a chance to build an anti-missile defense system. On the other hand, Avksentiev was concerned such a huge undertaking would require a very expensive crash military program that would derail a lot of the key economic reforms that he was rolling out.
What follows then was a plan by Diamond to assassinate Lewinter. In a sense, Diamond did not care whether the assassination succeeded or not (it failed). What he tried to do was to make the Russians think that since the American want to kill Lewinter, he must be a real defector and the information he has must be genuine. Diamond figured out the Russian would then go on to realize that mode of thinking is too simple so they would go to a second level of analysis: since the Americans want to make the Russians think Lewinter was a real defector, it must mean Lewinter was a fake defector and his information was not genuine. That is what Diamond wanted and he was convinced through the end he has succeeded. Pogodin, however, realized there is third layer of analysis. Pagodin knew of Diamond and he knew Diamond loves to run complex operations. So, Pagodin correctly guessed that since the Americans want the Russians to do a second level analysis, and Diamond is involved, it means there has to the a next level, a third level analysis. Pagodin correctly concluded since the Americans expected the Russians to think the assassination plot is to make the Russians believe Lewinter was a real defector, and the Americans expects the Russians to see through it and to draw the opposite conclusion, that means Lewinter must be a real defector and his information is genuine. In the end of the book, Pogodin was thinking about taking it to the next level, which is to send Lewinter back to America. Pogodin believed that would send the US the message Russia did not believe the trajectories to be genuine, which is critical because otherwise the US may change the trajectories for the missiles to make the information (and the anti-missile defense system the Russians were going to build based on that information) worthless.
Spoiler Alert. The story is about the defection of American scientist A. J. (Augustus Jerome) Lewinter and its aftermath. Lewinter was an associate professor at M.I.T. and an expert in ceramic engineering. For the last four years he has been working on ceramic nose cones for the U.S. military’s nuclear missiles program. Specifically, its MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry) Program, which allows one missile to carry multiple warheads that can target multiple targets at the same time. Lewinter, who was suspected to have a photographic memory, came across some top-secret files that contained detailed warhead trajectory information for the American MIRV program. The Russians have for years found themselves not able to build an anti-missile defense system against American ballistic missiles because a MIRV missile has too many warheads for them to track (especially many of are just decoys and antiradar systems). However, with Lewinter’s information, they would have a much easier time knowing which warhead is a real nuclear warhead just by comparing it to Lewinter’s trajectory information. Essentially, anyone who knew these trajectories could program a computer so that it could tell within seconds, using inputs from tracking devices, which incoming blips were real warheads, which were decoys, which were jamming devices.
The Americans, led by a Leo Diamond (who has previously been pushed out of the CIA because of a botched operation), immediately scrambled to figure out what valuable information Lewinter has that would interest the Russians enough to take him in as a defector. They easily concluded that Lewinter’s research expertise: ceramic nose cone, is not really attractive to the Russians. After some digging, they finally realized that Lewinter has come across the top-secret warhead trajectory file. If the Russians believe Lewinter and use the information to develop an anti-missile defense system, that could seriously compromise American nuclear missiles’ effectiveness. Diamond and company therefore came up with a plan to try to convince the Russians that Lewinter was a fake defector planted by the US intelligence community to provide Russian with fake information, so that the Russians would waste energy building an anti-missile defense system that would be useless.
The Russian team was initially led by Yefgeny Mikhailovich Pogodin, the KGB station chief in Tokyo. Lewinter defected when he was travelling to Japan for a conference and he went to the Soviet Embassy in Tokyo to seek political asylum. It was Pogodin who initially interviewed Lewinter in Tokyo and sponsored his defection and secretly flew him back to Russia. Later, the Lewinter project was taken over by Minister Boris Avksentiev, a very powerful politician and a member of Politburo. On the one hand, Lewinter’s information seemed like a gift from heaven because it finally allowed Russia to have a chance to build an anti-missile defense system. On the other hand, Avksentiev was concerned such a huge undertaking would require a very expensive crash military program that would derail a lot of the key economic reforms that he was rolling out.
What follows then was a plan by Diamond to assassinate Lewinter. In a sense, Diamond did not care whether the assassination succeeded or not (it failed). What he tried to do was to make the Russians think that since the American want to kill Lewinter, he must be a real defector and the information he has must be genuine. Diamond figured out the Russian would then go on to realize that mode of thinking is too simple so they would go to a second level of analysis: since the Americans want to make the Russians think Lewinter was a real defector, it must mean Lewinter was a fake defector and his information was not genuine. That is what Diamond wanted and he was convinced through the end he has succeeded. Pogodin, however, realized there is third layer of analysis. Pagodin knew of Diamond and he knew Diamond loves to run complex operations. So, Pagodin correctly guessed that since the Americans want the Russians to do a second level analysis, and Diamond is involved, it means there has to the a next level, a third level analysis. Pagodin correctly concluded since the Americans expected the Russians to think the assassination plot is to make the Russians believe Lewinter was a real defector, and the Americans expects the Russians to see through it and to draw the opposite conclusion, that means Lewinter must be a real defector and his information is genuine. In the end of the book, Pogodin was thinking about taking it to the next level, which is to send Lewinter back to America. Pogodin believed that would send the US the message Russia did not believe the trajectories to be genuine, which is critical because otherwise the US may change the trajectories for the missiles to make the information (and the anti-missile defense system the Russians were going to build based on that information) worthless.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2024
Geras pavyzdys šnipų romano, kuris nėra trileris. Įdomi kūrybinė idėja, apgalvota, išpuoselėta ir profesionaliai išpildyta. Autorius pasirinko žaisti su žvalgybos kaip žaidimo metafora. Istorijos centre - klasikinė Šaltojo karo slaptosios kovos figūra perbėgėlis. Juo negalima pasitikėti, nes neįmanoma patikrinti jo atsineštos informacijos. Tai atveria galimybę amerikiečių ir sovietų žvalgams sužaisti labai painų žaidimą. Svarbu ne tai, kas daroma iš tikrųjų, o tai, kokias išvadas iš tų veiksmų išves kita pusė. Palyginti trumpame tekste partija labai greitai privedama iki visiško absurdo. Vienas herojus sako: "Esu šachmatų didmeistris, bet šiame žaidime nieko nebesuprantu". O vis dėlto žaidžiama žmonėmis ir jie nukenčia. Vieni miršta, kiti prievarta izoliuojami. Tokia morali istorija be moralizavimo. Ir dar romane yra lietuvis, nors ir išprotėjęs. Irgi gana įdomus netikėtumas.
December 11, 2023
For a spy novel set in the latter Cold War period, this one is oddly boring. It spends a vast amount of time w/the CIA's personality modelling unit, to assess why the defector defected, and then an equal boring period with the "gaming" part of the intel community, where US officials and academics play the role of Politburo members to decide whether their Soviet counterpart would decide in favor of some ploy.
In this case, the ploy, the "op," is the thing and it's worth skipping sections on bureaucratic spying to get to the latter chapter, where the ploy is put into play. Then, it's clear the stakes for the Soviets are huge, to divert spending from consumer goods to more military might -- a move that, if it did occur, may be why the USSR collapsed in the late 1980s.
In this case, the ploy, the "op," is the thing and it's worth skipping sections on bureaucratic spying to get to the latter chapter, where the ploy is put into play. Then, it's clear the stakes for the Soviets are huge, to divert spending from consumer goods to more military might -- a move that, if it did occur, may be why the USSR collapsed in the late 1980s.
July 13, 2025
I read this one I think when it was first published. Lewinter is a rocket scientist who on a trip defects to the Soviet Union. Or does he? It's a pretty terrific puzzle and neither side knows what's going on, and the reader doesn't know a lot more. Good mystery and illustrations of the spy mentality, along the lines of The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. It's hard for me now to read stuff where the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State among others aren't in it for the good of the country but to suck the behind of the narcissist who is president. Knowledge and caring are things of the past, it seems.
December 19, 2023
Read lots of interesting philosophy about capital
Clever, but lacks heart, which one should expect from a book about intelligence agencies in Russia and America. Highlight for me was the observation that Soviet raison d’être focused on gaining power, while the capitalist West sought financial gain (which at the end of the day seems quite similar). Didn’t meet a single character I wanted more from.
Clever, but lacks heart, which one should expect from a book about intelligence agencies in Russia and America. Highlight for me was the observation that Soviet raison d’être focused on gaining power, while the capitalist West sought financial gain (which at the end of the day seems quite similar). Didn’t meet a single character I wanted more from.
November 7, 2025
This is my first Robert Littell espionage book, published only a year before LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. While not as compelling as Tinker Tailor to me, Littell's book is an interesting game on a defection by an American engineer. The cast of characters is quite small, and the central question of the book - can you trust a defector and his story? - is never really resolved, which is of course not surprising. A good read but not a book that I will return to and read again.
April 17, 2025
Vaguely resembles Mick Herron. Fills a gap in humanizing the Cold War. Single 'joke' that every action by either side's spies could just as easily be falsified or 'real'. Some cringeworthy clumsy dialog that should have been redpencilled.
April 20, 2018
chess :)
February 13, 2020
My second Hand copy started falling apart while I was reading - it's quite an old book, really. I enjoyed it, because it seems to be realistic.
December 25, 2020
A charming spy tale with Soviet and American moves and countermoves in the spirit of The Queen's Gambit.
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