Edgar Award Winner for Best Mystery Novel: "Takes off like a Chinook and whisks you through a labyrinth non-stop until the final sentence" (Clive Cussler).
Russian poet Boris Kotlikoff defected to the United States two years ago. He left with no state secrets; he is no threat to the Soviets in anyway; yet now he has become their prize hostage, buried alive somewhere in New York City.
The US government, on the defensive as always, treads on cat feet. But it does not take into consideration the doggedness of Ben Leary, an agent with Immigration and Naturalization. They also close their eyes to a parallel search by Gus Geller, a hatchet man for the CIA. And the government isn't even aware of Charlie Brewer, a discredited ex-CIA agent Geller puts in charge of the actual search. Will the vicious infighting among these three in a struggle against time and missed opportunities set up Kotlikoff as a doomed pawn?
"Compelling . . . A kind of catch-22." —Time
