From Noel Hynd author of Flowers From Berlin comes Firebird an intricate truetolife spy story that spans half a centuryIt is 1968 one of the most tumultuous years of the 20th Century Frank Cooper a former star investigative reporter now writes obituaries for a popular New York City tabloid He hears the confession of a dying man named Leonard Rudawski a former American diplomat who bitterly questions the fate of Pavel Lukashenko a wouldbe Soviet defector in Paris in 1965 Lukashenko promised to expose the espionage secret of a generation if he could get to the West But the defector code named quotFirebirdquot vanished Or did he Cooper teams with Lauren Richie a young NYLatina reporter from the same tabloid They prowl into the dying mans confession Soon they are onto the story of their lifetimes reviving a dangerous oncecold trail of back channelback alley CIA and KGB intrigue and tradeoffs all of which factor into the 3way racially tinged American election of that year Nixon vs Humphry vs the segregationist George Wallace Murder espionage romance betrayal and conspiracy intertwine Readers will meet and recognize dozens of memorable quotreal lifequot characters reporters gangsters diplomats call girls spy masters politicians and assassins The story is tough large sprawling and historically precise quotRussians sabotage and destabilize the westquot says one experienced reporter with KGB knowledge quotIts not just what they do Its what they do bestquotThe story straddles the...
