Published in paperback 18th July 2024 by No Exit Press.
From the cover of the book:
IT’S THE CASE OF AMANDA’S LIFETIME, BUT SOLVING IT WILL REQUIRE HER TO BETRAY ANOTHER SPY―WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE HER FATHER.SPYING IS THE FAMILY BUSINESS. Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA officer following in the footsteps of her father, who was a spy during the Cold War. It takes grit to succeed in this male-dominated world―but one hot summer day, when a Russian defector walks into her post, Amanda is given the ultimate chance to prove herself.
The defector warns of the imminent assassination of a US senator. Though Amanda takes the warning seriously, her superiors don’t. Twenty-four hours later, the senator is dead. And the assassination is just the beginning. Amanda races from Rome to London, from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, unravelling the international conspiracy. But as she gets closer and closer to the truth, a central question haunts her: Why was her father’s name written down in the senator’s notes?
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CIA officer, Amanda Cole, is in for another boring day in the American embassy in Rome, a posting that is less than ideal for someone with her pedigree and ambition. While her station chief is out schmoozing with Rome's elite, an unusual walk-in finally gives her the chance for some excitement - a Russian informant, on holiday in the city, says he has important information about the upcoming assassination of US senator Bob Vogel. Amanda knows in her bones that Semonov is the real deal, but she is unable to convince her station chief to take his information seriously... until twenty-four hours later, when Vogel does indeed die in precisely the way Semonov predicted.
The resulting furore within the CIA finds Amanda with a promotion to station chief, and a brand new asset to manage in the GRU, but this is not the end of the fallout from Vogel's assassination. Amanda's father, Charlie Cole, a former CIA operative during the Cold War, discovers that Vogel was compiling a top-secret dossier that had his name in it. He fears that his own murky past about an operation in Helsinki back in the 1980s may be about to come back to haunt him. He passes the file to the only person he can trust - his daughter Amanda. His one proviso is that she does her best to keep his name out of any investigation.
As Amanda begins to dig into the scattered jottings in Vogel's dossier, with the help of formidable CIA analyst Kath Frost, she uncovers a sophisticated attempt by Russia to influence the financial markets and recruit spies. Racing around the globe she slowly learns the truth about why Vogel was killed, and realises that there are uncomfortable links to her father's espionage career. Why was his name written in this file, and will it be her role to bring him to account for his actions?
With lovely echoes of John le Carré, The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak is a first-class novel that thrums with tension, mixing classic Cold War vibes with a modern twist on the espionage thriller. The story unfurls in slow-burn style between the present investigation by Amanda, and her father's past transgressions in 1980s Helsinki. It begins with easily discernible chapters from the points of view of Amanda and Charlie, that separate the two timelines, but you do have to keep your wits about you, because as the pace of the story ramps up the narratives blur in the later stretches of the story, rapidly (and sometimes confusingly) flipping between present and past. This does make this a book that requires intense concentration throughout, but this really is worth it in contriving a many-layered story with cleverly reflected themes.
It is hard to go into the plot in any depth without giving the game away, but suffice to say that Pitoniak does a grand job of comparing and contrasting the experiences and working styles of father and daughter as they go about their shady CIA careers, separated by time, linking the two with Soviet baddies you can really get your teeth into. And I very much enjoyed the way she explores the different threats they face, flooding Charlie's parts of the story with very nicely contrived, authentic Cold War fayre, and Amanda's with bang-up-to-date spook shenanigans of technological gadgetry, untrustworthy oligarchs, and very realistic manipulation in the financial markets.
Charlie is a difficult character to like given his actions, although Pitoniak does lead him towards redemption as the slick pay-off unfolds. What really makes this story is the unconventional Amanda with her wild past, and her determination to pursue a career to the best of her abilities, whatever the personal cost; and Kath Frost is an absolute diamond. Amanda and Kath's interactions are a joy for lovers of strong female characters who make fun working partnerships and, combined with the direction of Charlie's storyline, I can see this book having real legs for a long-running espionage series - which I would very much like to read. More please!
The Helsinki Affair is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to No Exit Press for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
She graduated from Yale, where she majored in English and was an editor at the Yale Daily News.
She worked for many years in book publishing, most recently as a Senior Editor at Random House.
Anna grew up in Whistler, British Columbia, and now lives in New York City.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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