The Cold War holds a special place in the annals of spy fiction. The shadowy conflict where spies were the front line, in many ways, stretched across nearly half a century. Not to mention where, in many ways, the genre came into its own in stories about dubious allegiances and 'moles' burrowed deep into agencies. Inspired by a real-life molehunt at the CIA during the 1960s, David Quammen's The Soul of Viktor Tronko is an overlooked gem of the Cold War spy genre and one now getting the chance to see the light of day once more.
Set in the 1980s, Quammen's novel centers around journalist Michael Kessler. Kessler, who made his name originally by writing about the CIA's misdeeds, is approached by an old source that opens up to him about the defection of Viktor Tronko nearly twenty years before. The events that followed having raised serious questions about the agency, its methods, and if it had a mole within its ranks. It's the start of a journey for Kessler, who, like George Smiley in John le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, must delve into the memories of a cast of characters in search of that murky and elusive thing known as "the truth."
Perhaps because Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is THE great molehunt tale of the spy genre, it's easy to make comparisons with The Soul of Viktor Tronko with its own story. But whereas the existence of the mole Gerald inside le Carre's Circus is scarcely in doubt, the reality of Dimitri inside the CIA is very much up in the air here, all hinging on the credibility of the titular defector. Quammen's novel then is one part molehunt, yes, but it's also a journey into a world of paranoia, a "wilderness of mirrors" where nothing and no one might be what they seem. Which, given the ties into the JFK assassination, should come as no surprise as our journalistic protagonist grapples with its connection to the Tronko defection. It's a mystery slowly unwrapped, the result being very much an American answer to le Carre's Tinker Tailor.
Those who know the history involved, that of Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko and the CIA's (in)famous counterintelligence chief James Angleton's decade long molehunt, will have the added layer to the story of separating the fact from the fiction as well. Both men, and other CIA figures from the period, have their avatars here. Indeed Angleton's, named Claude Sparrow, perhaps the best realized, painting a portrait of the former molehunter in retirement: enigmatic, calm, but still paranoid. Indeed, Quammen offers up a compelling (dare I say even plausible?) explanation of those events that helped to nearly shatter the agency from the inside.
If "history is a fable agreed upon," as Sparrow tells Kessler at one point, then the novel is the story of what happens to history when there is no fable. It's a fascinating journey to go upon, populated by a cast of characters, many inspired by real-life people and events. The Soul of Viktor Tronko is an overlooked gem of spy fiction and one that, at a time when the very notion of "truth" seems up for grabs, still feels remarkably prescient.
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