William Christie https://williamchristieauthor.com is the author of ten novels. The Double Agent was published in 2022. This was the 86th book I completed in 2022.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence, mature situations, and mature language, I categorize this novel as R. The primary character in the novel is Russian Alexsi Smirnoff.

Smirnoff grew up as an orphan. As a young man, the Russian NKVD recognized his abilities and recruited him. After training, he was sent to Nazi Germany. He was able to penetrate the German Intelligence services and rose in rank.

As the tide of the war becomes clear, and not wanting to return to Russia, Smirnoff attempts to disappear. To his misfortune, he is captured by British troops. Sensing his abilities, the SIS recruits him. After further training, he is dropped into Italy with credentials as a member of the Wehrmacht. The NKVD had learned that he still lived and was in Britain. A hit squad had been sent to find and execute him. War-torn Italy sounded like a good place to hide.

His new identity was as a German Sergeant. With the papers of a communications expert, he is able to take a post within the headquarters of Field Marshall Kesselring. There he has access to information critical to the Allies.

His past has led Smirnoff to bend and flex with the conditions he is faced with. Will he change his allegiance again?

I enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 344-page WWII-era thriller. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Published by Minotaur Books on November 15, 2022

The Double Agent is a spy thriller that begins in Teheran in 1943. Alexsi Smirnov, a Russian intelligence officer who infiltrated the German army, is warning Churchill of a plot to end his life. That story is told in A Single Spy.

Churchill’s bright idea is to reward Alexsi for saving his life by sending him back to Germany as a British agent. Having betrayed the Russians, Smirnov is certain that he won’t last long in Berlin. Alexsi’s attempt to escape from the British embassy and make his way out of Tehran is foiled, leading Alexsi to agree to spy for Britain, but on his own terms.

Alexsi wants to pose as a signals officer, preferably in Paris, an affable location from which he will be well positioned to escape when Germany loses the war. The British like the idea but send him to Italy, where he gamely takes over the signals operation at a German base. In addition to supervising soldiers who search for clandestine radios operated by partisans and spies, Alexsi is in charge of encoding and decoding messages to the local German command. He uses his position to send coded messages to British intelligence, passing on tidbits about German plans and troop positions in Italy.

The SS officer in charge of the base is happy to have someone of Alexsi’s coding skill and organizational talents. The officer decides to use Alexsi to spy on an Italian princess who is helping the partisans and who has the ear of the Pope. While Alexsi has fun in her bed, the new assignment adds another level of risk to his life as a spy. He dodges Russians, suspicious SS officers, angry Italians, and an unpredictable princess as the war in Europe comes to a close.

The Double Agent offers a nice mix of tradecraft and action. Alexsi doesn’t pretend to be James Bond, but he’s good with a knife. In most instances, he manages to avoid violence by outwitting his adversary. He has a moral code that, while flexible, prevents him from helping the SS commit atrocities against innocent Italians as reprisal for a partisan attack upon SS soldiers.

Alexsi doesn’t have much of a personality beyond his desire to stay alive and his refusal to participate in bloodbaths, but that’s all the personality he needs in a novel that is about survival rather than political idealism. Fans of A Single Spy will probably enjoy the sequel. The novels are similar in style. The second novel is sufficiently independent of the first that a reader will not miss much by reading The Double Agent without first reading A Single Spy.

RECOMMENDED

William Christie released A Single Spy several years ago, introducing Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, sent by the Russians to spy on Germany. His follow up, The Double Agent, encountered some delays but was well worth the wait. After foiling a plan to assassinate Churchill, Alexsi offers his services to Britain. He can not return to Berlin and Stalin supported the plan against Churchill, Alexsi knows that there will be repercussions for his actions and requests a transfer to England. He works with Intelligence to reveal what he learned in Berlin as well the training he received from the NKVD. When a Russian hit team makes an attempt on his life he knows that England is no longer safe. The only place to be safe from the Russians is back in Germany. When he volunteers to return to Germany he is hoping to be sent to Munich. Intelligence has other plans for him. Posing as a German sergeant, he is dropped into Italy with forged orders assigning him to Signals as an operator and repairman.

Alexsi is a survivor. By organizing his area and making himself indispensable to his commander, he is above suspicion as he inserts his transmissions for the British into daily communications. An unwelcome transfer to SS headquarters in Rome provides more opportunities, but also puts him in more danger. While his own survival is his goal, there are times that he feels morally obligated to refuse orders or take action. Christie’s story is filled with historical figures and events as well as a look at the enigma machine and Alexsi’s tradecraft as a spy. It is an historical thriller that will appeal to fans of Alan Furst and WWII fiction. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for my review.

A terrific read for fans of historical fiction. Alexsi - is this his real name?- is an Azeri born Russian who, at the beginning of the novel is sitting in the British Embassy in Tehran during WWII trying to sell himself to the UK after having worked for the Russians as a spy in the German Abwehr. The Brits eventually bring him to London where he reinvents himself for them as a signals expert named Peter Bauer and is parachuted into northern Italy. As Bauer, he insinuates himself into German army HQs while also sending coded messages back to London. And then he's sent to death with the Principessa, who, for what might be the first time for anyone, gets a bit under his skin - but that's never stated, its only for the reader to deduce. The brutality of the German occupation escalates as does the pressure on Alexsi until ...No spoilers from me. Christie has created a wonderful character in the cynical, thoughtful, relentless Alexsi. Know that he uses violence when needed (there's a scene with trocars that, well, it's impressive) as do the Germans in retaliation against the local population. There's impressive tradecraft, a suspenseful plot, great tensi0n. I missed the first book but this was a great read as a standalone and now I'm hoping for another. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A real page turner. And don't miss the afterword!

3.5 stars

A WWII spy story featuring an NKVD agent trying to survive the war. Lots of action & some humor made this an enjoyable story, though I was a bit disappointed with the ending.

[What I liked:]

•There is plenty of action & excitement to keep the story interesting. Along with the quick pace, we get to visit several different locations from Tehran to England to Italy.

•Alexei, the MC, is hilarious! I particularly enjoyed his consternation about British culture, & how much he secretly hated English tea.

•While definitely not an idealist, & mainly concerned with his own survival, Alexei has ethical lines he refuses to cross & isn’t a cruel person. He makes for a complex character, motivation wise.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The ending is extremely abrupt, & lands the MC back in the same dilemma he was in when the book started: a sitting assassination target for the Soviets within the Allied forces. Why not give even a hint of how he plans to get out of it?

•Likewise, Alexei’s decision at the end to abandon self preservation to help someone is pretty out of character—an abrupt decision, & his reasoning isn’t really explained.

CW: child abuse, domestic violence, murder, torture, racism, suicide

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

We first meet Aleksi Ivanovich Smirnov in Christie’s 2017 A Single Spy. That book takes Aleksi from his youth on the streets in Azerbaijan, to his being trained by the Soviet NKVD to be a deep uncover spy in Nazi Germany for seven years before being activated on a mission to assassinate the Allied leaders at their 1943 Tehran summit conference.

This new book opens just after the prior one finishes. Aleksi, having successfully thwarted the mission he was supposed to be a part of, is now with the British, who want him to return to Nazi Germany as their double agent. Thinking that’s a good way to die young, Aleksi has other ideas. It’s then a peripatetic adventure for him, trying to stay one step ahead of the NKVD agents on a mission to kill him. The result is his being given a false identity and sent to Italy. It’s 1944 by then, so his time in Italy is unsurprisingly packed with risk.

Christie delivers a seamless blend of fact and fiction, and a mix of highly detailed spycraft and 007-level action of both the violent and romantic kind, but without stinting on the grim realities of being on the ground in Nazi-occupied countries. A Single Spy is a terrific book, but if anything this is even more gripping.

Sequel to “A Single Spy”

1943-1944

This is the story of Alexsi Smirnoff, a Russian, who was trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Agency Service and inserted into the Nazi Germany, where he rose to a position in German intelligence services. As the war goes on, feeling trapped between two brutal dictatorships Alexi betrays both sides and attempts to disappear but is caught by the British...Alexsi finds himself once again a double agent ..But deep down Alexsi is loyal only to himself.

No doubts this is a compelling novel of espionage set in the most momentous and dangerous of times. It is well-paced, very suspenseful and most of all engaging. The story explores the problems one faces as an agent to two masters: information fed to one agency without giving away too much and harming the other. Alexsi plays his role here beautifully.

Back in the field, assigned to the German SS headquarters in Rome there he transmits coded messages back to England, has a fling with an Italian princess, manages to avoid reprisal form Germans soldiers and partisans. The tradecraft is all-out and the portrayal of the Ardeatine massacre haunting. The violence is stunning and off the chart. All well-done

Mr. Christie has a way with words and knows how to pen a storyline that will capture his audience full attention. It surely got me hooked from the beginning. I simply couldn’t wait to see what troubles Alexsi will get into and how he will wiggle out of them.

Excellent and entertaining adventure

1943. Hitler’s domination of Europe continues as World War II rages. In custody of the British MI6, agent Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov agrees to spy for the Allies to help them end the complete takeover of the Nazi regime.

Parachuted into Nazi-occupied Italy and picked up by German officers, Alexsi is assigned as a master sergeant signaler under Security Service Colonel Kappler. Quickly bringing order to the signalers and establishing his position, Alexsi begins his own secret transmissions to the British via the Enigma coding machine.

Knowing he walks the edge of a line between life and death playing both a dedicated German soldier and a British informant, Alexsi relies on his supreme spy survival skills to stay alive.

Brilliant, had me hooked straight to the end; which I feel came to a sudden un-finish. Christie left me hanging in suspense, frantically searching for more. I seriously hope Christie intends to continue Alexsi’s story.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books for the read of William Christie’s, The Double Agent.

An entertaining action thriller about a WWII spy serving multiple countries and using his quick wits to get himself out of scrapes.

Double Agent
By William Christie

This is the story of a Russian spy, Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, who, at the behest of his Russian masters, becomes a Nazi intelligence officer – in effect, a Double Agent. However his story goes from there through the many mishaps and changes of fortune - forces he cannot control - to having him work for allied intelligence and ultimately saving the life of Winston Churchill. Alexsi, while performing the tasks required by others, is simply trying to stay alive.

This is a high adventure story. It is an entertaining read about one man's ability to game the system. An enjoyable read.

The Double Agent by William Christie is the very entertaining story of a quick-witted spy of opportunity with keen observational skills. The comparisons and contrasts of the various cultures the protagonist finds himself in over his career are enlightening, and his quick adaptations are exciting enough to want to watch him on screen!! I enjoyed this historical novel, and will definitely read the prequel, “A Single Spy”.

This is a sequel to another book but, unlike with some other authors, you don't need to have read that to get right into this one. He provides enough backstory throughout the book to bring the reader up to speed without spoiling it for those wanting to read the earlier one.

Alexsi Smirnoff makes for a quite engaging main character in The Double Agent by William Christie. Originally from the Soviet Union, it doesn't matter which country he is working for. He is always a smooth and smart spy, and quite adept at making himself come out well. The tales that author Christie devises work well and kept my interest. I do concede that I thought the novel had a slow start, but I kept at it and was well rewarded.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Not my cup of te - with Russian secret service and Nazi germany. Double agents and a lot going on - couldn’t get behind it

Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov was a deeply embedded agent in MI 6. He reported both to London and Moscow. Neither country knew that he worked for the other. His life was a tightrope with knives at both ends. The Nazis would shoot immediately if they knew that he reported to both sides. First, however, he could expect to be hanging from a meat hook in the basement of Gestapo headquarters.

The problem with being a dual agent is keeping both agencies satisfied. One slip and he would never see the light of day again. Their mutual enemy needed to be defeated by both countries. This book explores the problems faced by someone who is a slave to two masters. Information needs to be fed to the agencies without actually giving away something that could harm the other.

Well-paced and engaging. Empathetic MC. This well-written novel will entertain you and keep you in suspense. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

What a read! This book is as much about spying as it is about human resiliency during WW II. If you love a mystery, historical novels and the intrigue of spying thrown in, then this book is for you.

While I enjoy a historical fiction, this one just didn't grab my attention. I am not sure why. Bur I was very disappointed with the book, hence why I am giving this two stars.

I received an advance reader copy of this novel by an author whose works I had never read but now plan to add to my list.

This is a sequel to another book but, unlike with some other authors, you don't need to have read that to get right into this one. He provides enough backstory throughout the book to bring the reader up to speed without spoiling it for those wanting to read the earlier one.

The story, set in the midst of WWII, tells of a young man whose "gifts" of thievery and delinquency are used by various European nations - Russian, German, British, Italian - to their own goals. Christie weaves real historical characters and events into his story in a believable way. His protagonist manages to get into a variety of predicaments where he has to use his wits and skills to extricate himself. Sometimes these escapes verge on the unlikely, but they are entertaining and the story moves along at a rapid, page-turning pace.

The Double Agent by William Christie

WWII Iran, 1943

The story opens with the hero in dire straits in Iran. He’s in a cell being held at the British embassy and he’s doomed if he doesn’t take action to protect himself.

The hero, Alexsi, warned the British about a plot to kill Churchill ordered by Stalin. As his ‘reward” for doing so, the British intend to send him right back into the fray as a spy for them. A sure fire way for Alexsi to be killed himself.

A clever man who has had a rough existence, he finds a way to survive. But fate has a way of chasing this man and it isn’t long until he’s back in peril. In fact, this whole book is basically him going from one perilous situation to another. Such is the life of a spy in WWII.

Excitement abounds, the story teems with edge of the seat scenarios, and the violence is sometimes stunning and off the charts.

I enjoyed this book for the storyline as well as the hero. He’s smart, industrious, witty and very likeable. Almost like a violent McGyver. He finds his way into scrapes and back out using the resources to hand.

Clearly, the writer of this story has a great way with words and figuring out a way to get his protagonist out of scrapes. I liked the sheer audacity of some of the hero’s actions.

This appears to be book two of a series and it seems there will be a book three since the war isn’t over in the timeline of the story (and even though the ending was satisfying, it is clear this character has more to do). I was pleased to find I didn’t need to have read book one to jump right into book two. There was no confusion about who this man was and why he was in the situation he was in. That being said, I’m planning to go back and read the first one since I’m intrigued by the character. And I eagerly await the next installment.

I would warn readers that the book is quite violent so if you’re squeamish, be wary. Otherwise, be ready for an interesting ride-along with Alexsi.

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review. It comes out November 15, 2022.

Although the main Character had more luck than anyone has in a lifetime, I found myself pulling for him at all times. When I was about two-thirds through the book. it became something I didn't want to leave. Stayed up late to finish it. I don't give a five star rating often.