The Debriefing

by Robert Littell

In love with Katushka--a beautiful prostitute who may be his ally or his betrayer, Stone, an American agent trained in the most sophisticated methods of debriefing, must uncover every detail about the life of Kulakov, a highly placed Russian courier who wants to defect to the United States

Genres: Espionage, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Mystery, Thriller

202 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1979

About the author

An 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.

Reviews

[Sam Reaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little espionage puzzle by a master of the genre. A Soviet courier defects with a diplomatic pouch full of secrets. The CIA officer in charge of debriefing him finds the whole thing a little too convenient. His attempts to prove it's a setup eventually take him on a risky undercover jaunt to Moscow, where he enlists some local help to check out the fishy bits. Lots of tradecraft, a vivid depiction of the shabbiness of Brezhnev-era Soviet life, and the usual intellectual chess match, with each side trying to figure out if they've figured things out or only figured out what the other side wants it to think it's figured out... Yeah, it can be confusing. But that's what's fun about this genre.

[Armin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Viel Potenzial verplempert

Robert Littell braucht oft viel Zeit, bis seine Geschichten ihr volles Potenzial entwickeln, die Exposition bei diesem frühen Roman nimmt 115 Seiten in Anspruch, danach bleibt zu wenig Platz, um ein Feuerwerk brillanter Ideen angemessen abzufeuern, statt dessen fackelt der Autor enormes Potenzial viel zu hastig ab, damit wenigstens die Rechenaufgabe gelöst ist. Auf 300 Seiten hätte ein ganz großartiger Roman daraus werden können, statt dessen ist Le Carré für Arme daraus geworden. Eigentlich schade, für die Idee und die finale Wendung müsste man mindestens vier Sterne vergeben.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Stone is the head of an elite arm of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; he debriefs a Russian defector handcuffed to a sealed diplomatic pouch.

[Ron Welton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Debriefing by Robert Littell opens with a heart pounding defection in Athens of a Soviet official, Oleg Kulakov. We know only a little about him: he had been proscribed from leaving Moscow and was under investigation, he had been removed from the approved courier list but was reinstated for an assignment to carry a diplomatic pouch to Athens, he was told not to wear his uniform, and he has experienced the traumatic loss of his children.
After making his way to the U.S. embassy, he, and the pouch he is carrying, are taken into custody by Agent Stone of the Topological Department, an espionage unit working directly under the command of code name, Elbow Room, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Robert Littell is a master in the use of dramatic irony and uses it brilliantly. Kulakov is an unwitting false flag and the pouch he is to deliver is intended to fall into the hands of the Americans. The pouch is turned over to the CIA, but Kulakov is retained by Stone who believes "if there's a fly in the ointment, something tells me we'll find it in the warm body. The papers, if they've been set up, will be perfect."
Thus, the debriefing: while Stone is searching Kulakov, we readers are searching Stone, who has a host of his own secrets, not least of which is his obsessive fear of replacement by his deputy, Mozart, his relationship with his lover, Thro, and his daughter.
Coming upon Kulakov has been serendipitous for the Topological Department which has been budgeted to develop means to infiltrate agents into Soviet Russia. Stone, once he knows "more about (Kulakov) than God," and has vague intuitions about his authenticity, decides to be the first agent to avail of the departments skills and unbeknownst to Elbow Room, whom Stone believes must be kept in the dark for deniability purposes, heads out to Moscow.
Robert Littell is the master storyteller of espionage fiction. This is one of his best.

[Michael Martz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Debriefing" has all of those traits that endear spy novels to me: deception, lies, tradecraft, exotic locations, international intrigue.... it's classic Littell.

Here's the story: Kulakov, a Soviet diplomatic courier in the Brezhnev era, is in big trouble with his superiors but is given an unlikely assignment to carry a pouch to Cairo. Reading the tea leaves and realizing much of the rest of his life may be spent in prison if his myriad problems persist, he defects to the Americans while on layover in Athens. The man dispatched to handhold Kulakov, Stone, sweet talks him into traveling to the US and giving up the contents of both the pouch and his head. Unfortunately, Kulakov doesn't know much about what's going on in Russia since he's just a courier and has no idea what's in the pouch. The American spy groups are ecstatic over the contents of the bag he's dropped in their lap, but Stone has some misgivings. This is where the fun begins.

Can the content of the pouch, papers, letters, diagrams stolen from the US, and a bunch of other material, be verified as real? Is Kulakov telling the truth about his role? Why is Kulakov defecting? Could this be the most elaborate fake defection in history or did the US discover a gold mine? The intelligence community goes through its processes to verify every detail of both the materials and Kulakov's story he's told in multiple debriefings and everything looks kosher, but Stone continues to smell a rat. He's sent under deep cover to Moscow in an attempt to corroborate all aspects of Kulakov's background and the various pieces of intelligence he'd been carrying. Posing as a KGB agent, he makes great progress until he is unmasked.

Robert Littell penned one of the greatest spy novels ever written, "The Company". The Debriefing isn't quite at that level and is at a much different scale, but it's a first-rate thriller. He was tagged early on as 'the American le Carre'' but his output has been a little too uneven for me to buy into that. However, this is one of his better efforts. Fine writing, great characters, a little humor, and tons of tradecraft made this one enjoyable read.

[Donald Shipman · Rating 5 out of 5]

You crossed. I didn't. Couldn't put it down. Another win for Littell. Recommended for field operation intelligence class studies to stoke the wannabes imagination. m

Patience is the most important of ops virtues. Next to creativity, that is. Am I up to twenty words yet? DS

[Dennis McClure · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son introduced me to Littel a couple of years ago with a Christmas present. He does that and moves on. I got hooked.

Somebof Littel’s books have missed the target. This one did not.

It’s a great spy thriller and a good read.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read my share of Le Carré imitators and bigosh I really thought this one was very good. It helps that it's a 1979 book. I'm glad he's written a dozen others and I look forward to tackling Littell's oeuvre.

[Rai Peñafiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to give it four stars, but then that ENDING happened.

[Salluste · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rien d'extraordinaire mais lecture sympathique tout de même. Me donne un coup de vieux de constater que ces histoires de bloc soviétique font partie d'un passé qui paraît lointain.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le Carre was at Littell's elbow for this one. Rivalry between intel services was at least as great as with those of opposing services. Well-worn Cold War yarn.

[George W. Spears · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another spy classic

This author ranks with LeCarre as far as capturing the complexities of the spy trade. Very enjoyable read. Quite nuanced and well written.

[Gabriel Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not just how good his books are, it's how real they feel

[Kashmira Majumdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many I'm About To-s. The first half of the book was the author setting up so many plot points that are ABOUT TO mature into some really satisfying payoffs, and you're poised on the edge of your seat, ready to launch like a rocket. And the second half (as Stone settles into life in Moscow and his investigation) just... meanders away somewhere else.

Honestly, after a point, I read Robert Littell for his incredibly unsettling insider's viewpoint of life behind the Iron Curtain and the throwaway, casual nuances of work life in the CIA. The suspense chugs along like a train all through to the twist ending, but the train takes a wide detour and eventually remembers its final destination. There are so many loose threads (post-debriefing Kulakov, Katushka, Thro etc.) and characters that are introduced and forgotten until it's time for them to throw a wrench in the plot (Volkov, the man who betrays the protagonists to Volkov, Mozart) that it's incredibly frustrating. The one exception to the useless Chekov's Gunman brigade was Kulakov's father and that was BRILLIANTLY done.

To me, the biggest shaggy dog stories was Stone, his being Jewish, his family being forced to immigrate, and his return to Russia in that light. I kept expecting it to amount to something meaningful (especially with all the set-up about Kulakov's indictment) but alas.

But onto THINGS I DID LIKE:

-The Vnukovo airport scene. The description of officials riffling through tourists' belongings officiously but an underlying deep yearning simply broke my heart.

-The "intelligence" distinction and how Volkov pulled off his Xanatos Gambit. The whole gambit really. Similarly, Stone's investigation. Sure, he pulled at all the threads he was supposed to, but to see the threads as they unravelled was beautiful. Very fun kind of ~police procedural story. (Starting with how he pointed out everything was "military" about Kulakov's life).

-MOZART. His whole attitude of "you're just keeping my seat warm for me" was awesome, and so was his dynamic with Stone. The ending was brutal but anyone should have seen it coming, in the best way possible.

[Tuxlie]

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA

Review

“ Elegant . . . works like a clock with three sticks of dynamite attached to it.”
—The New York Times

“ The Debriefing is beautifully plotted . . . with a clever, ironic twist at the end . . . Littell’s craftsmanship shines through.��
—Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Robert Littell was born, raised, and educated in New York. A former Newsweek editor specializing in Soviet affairs, he left journalism in 1970 to write fiction full time. Connoisseurs of the spy novel have elevated Robert Littell to the genre's highest ranks, and Tom Clancy wrote that “if Robert Littell didn’t invent the spy novel, he should have.” He is the author of fifteen novels, including the New York Times bestseller The Company and Legends, the 2005 L.A. Times Book Award for Best Thriller/Mystery. He currently lives in France.

Now back in print?a taut spy thriller from "The New York Times" bestselling author of "The Company"
With the publication of his "New York Times" bestseller "The Company," Robert Littell re-established his position among the highest ranks of writers of literary espionage novels. In "The Debriefing," long out of print until now, Littell offers another novel of exquisite suspense.
Stone is the head of an elite arm of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?and a master of the psychologically sophisticated art of debriefing. When Oleg Kulakov defects from Russia, handcuffed to a sealed diplomatic pouch, it's Stone's job to find out if he's genuine. As Stone uncovers Kulakov's darkest secrets, he penetrates Russia itself to learn the chilling truth . . . a truth that tears his own world apart.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several novels of Littell and I've run into a problem where it is hard for me to judge this book on its own terms. I know some of Littell's quirks about the spy game and I'm anticipating some of the plot points from that experience. Which is not unlike to that which is happening to the debriefer in this novel.

The debriefer (Stone) has to ascertain whether a defecting courier from the Soviet Union is really an "honest" defector and whether the courier bag's info is reliable. The debriefer has to walk back everything that made the courier defect and analyze them from both sides - from the viewpoint of the surface topology - and from the surface that there is a deeper game going on. This is exactly what a reader of spy fiction (and mysteries) does as well. So it gets kinda meta when you are reading, which is part of the fun of these books.

This was written right before the Reagan rah-rah era and it would be totally out of place in the Tom Clancy side of the genre. The bad guys can be on either side of the Iron Curtain, in fact our bad guys are still in power, their useful enemies have turned from hammers and sickles to Korans. C'est plus change.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly straightforward Cold War espionage story...or is it? A low-level Soviet courier defects to the U.S., and with him he brings a trove of useful information. The story's protagonist travels to The Soviet Union under false cover to verify the defector's identity, and information. Is he a real defector or a plant? If a plant, does he know it or is he being used? Is the information useful or plated, and if it is planted is it planted so the Americans know it is planted - leading them to false conclusions - or is it intended to be taken at face value. Under any of the possible circumstances, what does it tell the Americans about their Soviet counterparts - and does it tell them that because the Soviets want it to tell them that?
This book is a pleasure. Populated with several eccentric, but plausible and very human, characters, it takes a relatively simple and common (to that world) conundrum and makes it a very interesting read. The narrative is well-paced, and though there is almost no "action" to speak of, the story is tense and reveals nothing until the conclusion. That conclusion is very satisfying, and just ironic enough to remain easily believable.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intriguing story from start to finish. The story begins as a Russian courier picks up a diplomatic pouch and while in another country, defects. He is handed over to an American agency that reports directly to the head of the joint chief of staff. They get the diplomat, while the CIA gets what is in the diplomatic pouch. Then the trick becomes — is he and the materials that he was carrying genuine? Or something sent to trick the Americans?

[David Orphal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid story by the author is The Company. Plot was predictable in the second half of the book, but that was fine, since the story of how Stone finds the answer is fun. The ending twist is disappointingly contrived and predictable. If this is your first book by Littell, don't let this one keep you away from The Company or the Revolutionist. They are much, much better

[Barb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good first half, boring second half -- so much so that I no longer care how how it ends.

[Danny Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid read by Littell. Some of this was pretty easy to figure out, some of it really caught me by surprise, but all of it was enjoyable to read.

[Hko · Rating 2 out of 5]

aardige plot, begin was ook veelbelovend. Helaas was het daarna, zeker in Rusland, met grote stappen en weinig diepgang naar het einde toe. Leuk open eindje wel, dat kan een vervolg opleveren.