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THE SPY WHO JUMPED OFF THE SCREEN
by Thomas Caplan
Viking, January 2012
386 pages
$26.95
ISBN: 0670023213


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Not many authors can get a president to endorse their novels, and Caplan's coup (getting President Bill Clinton to endorse this one) is probably the most notable thing about this thriller. Unfortunately, despite the high-profile support, this novel just falls flat.

There is plenty to recommend the book in terms of topic (loose nukes) and background research undertaken by the author. Indeed many of the details that flush out the plot (stopping decommissioned former Soviet nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands) are very interesting. For example, the author points up that from 1993 to 2008, there were more than 1,500 "incidents" of missing nuclear material (65 percent of which was never recovered).

Despite this "torn from the headlines" problem, compounded by personal greed over patriotism, and obvious skill in describing locations and people, author Thomas Caplan never makes a convincing case for his characters. First of all, he chooses a movie star to be the lead spy in the plot line. Despite giving Ty Hunter a worthy background and access to a well-moneyed crowd, this movie star-turned-secret agent never feels real. The fact that within the book itself, the author needs to suggest to his readers that his lead character is like Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne while serving as an actual spy may tell us how Caplan wants us to see Ty Hunter, but does little to actually transport us there.

Then there are the eccentric mega-moneyed men, so mysterious no one can begin to understand their actions. At the end of the day, all that mystery becomes slightly boring, exactly the opposite of its intended effect. Its easier to buy into the idea of greed leading former government workers, be they US or former Soviets, astray.

Finally, there is the battle for love between good guy movie star Ty Hunter and evil-doer Philip Frost over the god-daughter of eccentric billionaire Ian Santal. That she so easily drops one for the other defies belief, not to mention that she can act along with the best of Hollywood once her beloved godfather is killed off by her former fiancé, Frost. (She never gives her position away to Frost despite having lost the most important person in her life.)

In the end, it just takes too much suspension of belief to swallow this thriller's plot, despite its promising premise. There might be some interesting material in this novel, but as a whole it lacks plausibility and is likely to leave readers empty-handed.

§ Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.

Reviewed by Christine Zibas, January 2012

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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