The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak on November 14, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Thrillers / Espionage, Fiction / Women
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
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The Helsinki Affair had an interesting premise. The writing was good but the execution was just okay. I was expecting more intrigue and craziness.
CIA agent Amanda Cole is thrust into an international conspiracy involving high-profile assassinations and Russian blackmail. It’s the case of her lifetime, but solving it might require her to betray another spy—who just so happens to be her father.
Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA agent, following in the footsteps of her father Charlie. But Amanda’s posting in Rome is a sleepy one. She’s listless and looking for action when, on a hot summer day, it walks right through her door. A lowly Russian operative is desperate, telling her that a US Senator is about to be assassinated on an overseas trip to Cairo. Amanda believes he’s telling the truth, but her superiors do not, and they determine that the best course of action is no action at all.
But when the assassination occurs, Amanda is suddenly thrust into an international conspiracy as she tries to find out why the senator was killed. What did he know that made him a target of the KGB and the Kremlin? Amanda pairs up with fast-talking, take-no-bullshit Kath, a brash older woman, and legendary spy, to get to the bottom of the case. The investigation takes them from Rome to London to Moscow to Helsinki.
As Amanda and Kath get closer to solving a case that involves double agents, blackmailed CEOs, illegal arms transfers, yachting oligarchs, and more, one question keeps coming back to haunt Amanda: why was her father’s name written down in the senator’s notes, notes that he seemed to be putting together right before he died? In order to get to the bottom of this international plot of blackmail, murder, and lies, Amanda must decide where her loyalty lies: with her country or with her family.
This one was good but I guess I was just expecting more murder and mayhem. This is a case of expectations not meeting reality. The ending is what threw me for a loop. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I thought the way the story was going, it would end in a more ambiguous way and not tied in bow. I would have rather had it all not end up like it did.