Agent 6 is the third in Tom Rob Smith's trilogy about a former MGB agent, Leo Demidov. His stunning debut Child 44, set in Russia in 1953 won him the Galaxy New Writer of the Year 2009. The second The Secret Speech, again set in the 1950's, was equally gripping. In Agent 6 it is 1965 and Leo Demidov has a wife and teenage daughters - but can he stop his past life destroying his current one? Three decades. Two murders. One conspiracy. Who is Agent 6?
Former Soviet Secret Service agent Leo Demidov has built himself a new life as a civilian with his wife Raisa, and their two teenage daughters, Elena and Zoya. The Soviet Union is a country trying to reassert itself after the murderous excesses of Stalin and the chaos of the following years, and as the Cold War continues powers inside Russia seek to topple their great enemy, the United States of America. Communist allies within the United States will prove vital players in this game of intrigue and revolution.
Raisa and their two daughters travel to the United States on a diplomatic mission, but a horrifying tragedy destroys everything Leo and Raisa have built. Leo must get to the States somehow and find out what happened. Exiled from the Soviet Union and separated from his family, Leo's quest takes him through the stark wilderness of Afghanistan, reawakening all his old instincts and forcing him to confront his demons. But whatever it costs, wherever he must go, he will find Agent 6.
‘[Agent 6 has] an improvised feel, a terrific, freewheeling energy and pace, to which Rob Smith’s no-nonsense prose is perfectly suited’ Daily Telegraph
'Smith is superb at evoking the day-to-day realities and bitter ironies of the cold war… immaculately researched sections are individually pungent and powerful' Metro
'It's an amazing story full of intrigue and espionage that you won't want to put down' Essentials
'Smith remains a brilliant depicter of the past' Sunday Times
'Tense and moving' Heat
Author
About Tom Rob Smith
Born in 1979 to a Swedish mother and an English father, Tom Rob Smith's bestselling novels in the Child 44 trilogy were international publishing sensations. Among its many honours, Child 44 won the International Thriller Writer Award for Best First Novel, the Galaxy Book Award for Best New Writer, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the inaugural Desmond Elliot Prize. Child 44 is now a major motion picture starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman.