Tension and suspense run hand in hand throughout this breath-stealing read set in Minsk in 1990. Super-recogniser CIA agent Melvina Donleavy finds herself pitted not only against the BSSR’s KGB Chairman, but she has also caught the eye of a serial killer. While this is very much a work of fiction, it is based around a series of true events, and there was a serial killer in Byelorussia (now Belarus) at the time this is set. The air of authenticity layered through this novel is undoubtedly as a result of author Kathleen Kent being a Department of Defence contractor assigned to the former Soviet Union in the early 90’s, she assisted in dismantling former Soviet military installations in Belarus and Kazakhstan. The main character here is on her first undercover mission and the mix of naivety, her special ability, and her skills of self-protection taught by her father, ensures an interesting protagonist. While the 90’s make themselves known, the themes on offer could sit in any time frame, which allowed me to immediately connect with and slide into the novel. In the main this is very much about the suspense of the espionage, yet when the brutal action arrives it provokes and stimulates emotions and reactions in equal measure. Black Wolf successfully positions a serial-killer murder mystery alongside a spy thriller, and they entwine and weave into one fabulously readable novel.
A "masterful" and "riveting" thriller about a female CIA agent whose extraordinary facial recognition powers lead her into the dangerous heart of the Soviet Union-and the path of a killer who shouldn't exist (Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author).
She never forgets a face. He never forgets his prey.
It is 1990 when Melvina Donleavy arrives in Soviet Belarus on her first undercover mission with the CIA, alongside three fellow agents-none of whom know she is playing two roles. To the prying eyes of the KGB, she is merely a secretary; to her CIA minders, she is the only one who can stop the flow of nuclear weapons from the crumbling Soviet Union into the Middle East.
For Mel has a secret; she is a "super recognizer," someone who never forgets a face. But no training could prepare her for the reality of life undercover, and for the streets of Minsk, where women have been disappearing. Soviet law enforcement is firm: murder is a capitalist disease. But could a serial killer be at work? Especially if he knew no one was watching? As Mel searches for answers, she catches the eye of an entirely different kind of threat: the elusive and petrifying "Black Wolf," head of the KGB.
Filled with insider details from the author's own time working under the direction of the U.S. Department of Defense, Black Wolf is a riveting new spy thriller from an Edgar-nominated crime writer, and a biting exploration of the divide between two nations, two masterminds, and two roles played by a woman pushed to her breaking point, where she'll learn that you can only ever trust one person: yourself.
