I Michael Koontz Under Cloak of Darkness

Under Cloak of Darkness

I Michael Koontz

Five Star, Jul 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144311

Born in 1930 in the backwoods of Maryland, he was reported to have been found dead in 1955, a gravestone serving as proof. He had no attachments or ties to anyone as before he died his parents were already dead and no permanent girl ever hooked his full interest. Let me revise that he had one tie the Washington Nationals of "First in War, First in Peace, and last in the American league" fame.

However, instead in 1955 he was reborn as John Apparite, trained as a killer by a top secret American espionage agency that contains only five agents, of which two are dead, one is semi retired and two including John remain active with one superior and five shadow agents ready to kill them if need be; outside of this elite tiny cell, only the Sec Def, CIA chief, and NSA director know they exist.

John's assignment is to prevent the KGB from stealing western missile secrets. Feeling guilty and a bit of a failure because his boss's liaison to him is killed in the process of him thwarting the enemy, John vows to get the Russian SMERSH agent responsible Viktor.

UNDER CLOAK OF DARKNESS is an exhilarating 1950s Cold War espionage thriller that grips readers from the moment that John is trained to become a superagent and never slows down until the final confrontation. The story line is action-packed as John trains initially before helping J. Edgar Hoover out of a jam and then subsequently there is the Viktor subplot. Though in some ways it feels like a Punisher comic book tale (early days that is) little things like rooting for the Nats bring a delightful sense of 1950s realism to an exciting spy thriller.

Harriet Klausner