Black wolf

First Title Value for Searching:

Black wolf

Personal Author:

Kent, Kathleen, 1953-

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

387 pages ; 25 cm.

Genre:

Spy fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Historical fiction.

Summary:

"It is 1990 when Melvina Donleavy arrives in Soviet Belarus on her first undercover mission with the CIA, alongside three fellow agents--none of whom know she is playing two roles. To the prying eyes of the KGB, she is merely a secretary; to her CIA minders, she is the only one who can stop the flow of nuclear weapons from the crumbling Soviet Union into the Middle East. For Mel has a secret; she is a 'super recognizer,' someone who never forgets a face. But no training could prepare her for the reality of life undercover, and for the streets of Minsk, where women have been disappearing. Soviet law enforcement is firm: murder is a capitalist disease. But could a serial killer be at work? Especially if he knew no one was watching? As Mel searches for answers, she catches the eye of an entirely different kind of threat: the elusive and petrifying 'Black Wolf,' head of the KGB"--

Subject Term:

Nuclear weapons -- Fiction.

Serial murders -- Fiction

Publication Info:

New York : Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company, 2023.

Subject:

Nuclear weapons -- Fiction.

Serial murders -- Fiction

Belarus -- Fiction.

Spy fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Historical fiction.

United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- Fiction.

Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti -- Fiction.

Agjencia Qendrore e Inteligjencës

Central Intelligence Agency (U.S.)

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)

CIP (United States. Centrālās izlūkošanas pārvalde)

Mei-kuo chung yang chʻing pao chü

National Security Council (U.S.). Central Intelligence Agency

Si Aing Ei

T͡Sentralʹnoe razvedyvatelʹnoe upravlenie SShA

T͡SRU SShA

T͡SRU (T͡Sentralʹnoe razvedyvatelʹnoe upravlenie SShA)

United States. Agencia Central de Inteligencia

United States. Agjencia Qendrore e Inteligjencës

United States. Bạho Htauk Hlān Yēi Ạhpwẹ

United States. Central de Inteligencia Americana

United States. Centrālās izlūkošanas pārvalde

United States. Chung yang chʻing pao chü

United States. Intelligence Agency, Central

United States. T͡Sentralʹnoe razvedyvatelʹnoe upravlenie

United States. Wakālat al-Mukhābarāt al-Markazīyah

United States. Центральное разведывательное управление

ЦРУ США

ЦРУ (Центральное разведывательное управление США)

Центральное разведывательное управление США

ארצות הברית. סי. אי. איי

美 !7o. 中央情報!; P

KGB

USSR KGB

K.G.B.

Russia (1923- U.S.S.R.). Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti

Soviet Union. Gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti, Komitet

Soviet Union. Sovet Ministrov. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti

Soviet Union. Comité de sécurité de l'Etat soviétique

Soviet Union. Ṿaʻadah le-viṭḥon ha-medinah

KA-GKE-BE

KGB SSSR

ק.ג.ב

Soviet Union. Комитет государственной безопасности

Atomic weapons

Fusion weapons

Thermonuclear weapons

Republic of Belarus

Rėspublika Belarusʹ

Republic of Byelarusʹ

Respublika Byelarusʹ

Byelarus

République de Bélarus

República de Belarús

Republik Belarus

Weissrussland

White Russia

Belorussia

Belorus

Biélorussie

Bielorussia

Białoruś

Беларусь

Рэспубліка Беларусь

Республика Беларусь

ベラルーシ

Berarūshi

SAILS ISBN:

9780316280211

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Bridgewater Public Library	KENT, K.	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dartmouth - Southworth	FIC KEN	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... East Bridgewater Public Library	KENT, K. 2023	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library	FIC KENT	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hanson Public Library	KENT	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	FIC KENT	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Middleborough Public Library	F KEN	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Francis J. Lawler Branch	FIC KENT	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norton Public Library	FIC KEN	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Richards Memorial Library	KENT	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Seekonk Public Library	FIC KENT	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wareham Free Library	XX(2909480.2)	Being acquired by the library	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wareham Free Library	F KEN	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... West Bridgewater PL	FIC KENT, KATHLEEN	FICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A "masterful" and "riveting" thriller about a female CIA agent whose extraordinary facial recognition powers lead her into the dangerous heart of the Soviet Union--and the path of a killer who shouldn't exist (Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author).

She never forgets a face.

He never forgets his prey.

It is 1990 when Melvina Donleavy arrives in Soviet Belarus on her first undercover mission with the CIA, alongside three fellow agents--none of whom know she is playing two roles. To the prying eyes of the KGB, she is merely a secretary; to her CIA minders, she is the only one who can stop the flow of nuclear weapons from the crumbling Soviet Union into the Middle East.

For Mel has a secret; she is a "super recognizer," someone who never forgets a face. But no training could prepare her for the reality of life undercover, and for the streets of Minsk, where women have been disappearing. Soviet law enforcement is firm: murder is a capitalist disease. But could a serial killer be at work? Especially if he knew no one was watching? As Mel searches for answers, she catches the eye of an entirely different kind of threat: the elusive and petrifying "Black Wolf," head of the KGB.

Filled with insider details from the author's own time working under the direction of the U.S. Department of Defense, Black Wolf is a riveting new spy thriller from an Edgar-nominated crime writer, and a biting exploration of the divide between two nations, two masterminds, and two roles played by a woman pushed to her breaking point, where she'll learn that you can only ever trust one person: yourself.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

This intelligent, propulsive spy thriller from Edgar finalist Kent (the Betty Rhyzyk series) takes Melvina "Mel" Donleavy, a 26-year-old CIA agent on her first undercover mission, to Minsk, Soviet Belarus, a dangerous place in 1990 as Soviet control crumbles and the Byelorussian mafia gains increasing power. A "super recognizer," Mel has the uncanny ability to remember every face she sees. Mel's four-person team poses as a U.S. State Department group researching possible funding to the newly sovereign country. Their real task is to gather intel and assess new threats. Mel's been given her own top-secret assignment: to investigate rumors that Iran is negotiating a clandestine pact with Belorussia to secure nuclear weapons. She soon appears on the radar of Martin Kavalchuk (aka the Black Wolf), the head of the country's KGB. Meanwhile, women have been disappearing from the streets of Minsk, the work of a serial killer known as the Svisloch Strangler, and Mel winds up investigating the case. Kent draws on her own experience working for the U.S. Department of Defense to create an utterly convincing espionage novel full of tradecraft. Readers will eagerly await Mel's further adventures. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (Feb.)

Kirkus Review

Spies, nuclear scientists, and a serial killer collide in the twilight of the Soviet Union. It's 1990. As the Soviet Union crumbles, four CIA agents are sent to Belorussia, ostensibly to offer America's financial assistance to the newly independent country but in truth to evaluate the stability of the republic and to see who might be stepping into the power void. The youngest agent, Melvina Donleavy, has a more specific assignment still--to confirm whether three Iranian men are seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or uranium. Mel has a unique gift: She is able to recall the face of any person she has ever seen, and identify them, even within a crowd of hundreds. As the agents seek to make connections and uncover information in Belorussia, Mel keeps her own counsel, helped by an American expatriate scientist named William Cutler. After a young secretary Mel was attempting to befriend is found dead, the agents learn that women have been disappearing around the city. Mel, whose father was a cop, begins to suspect that there's a serial killer in action. When she crosses paths with the Black Wolf, KGB chief Martin Kavalchuk, Mel's life and the lives of her colleagues are soon in peril. To complete her mission, she will have to endure arrest, torture, and captivity--and the serial killer who has become obsessed with her. Kent's novel is based on real-life people and events in the gritty Belorussia of this era, and the characters and their experiences are well drawn and complex. At the same time, the story moves well; the tensions are high; the climax action-packed. Kent brings her gift for building strong and complex female characters, honed in the Betty Rhyzyk series, to Mel, who is younger, softer, and still just as much a survivor. A well-crafted spy novel married to a serial killer mystery equals lots of dark drama. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

It's 1990, and rookie CIA operative Melvina Donleavy's first mission takes her to Minsk on the eve of Belorussia's independence, where she's tasked with identifying rogue nuclear scientists suspected of covertly building weapons in the volatile Soviet states. Mel's rare skill--the ability to remember every face she's ever seen--is the agency's secret weapon. Cloaked by a CIA team posing as a group of economics experts, Mel finds that Minsk is more dangerous than their hosts at the technology ministry will admit. The Bratva mafia's foothold is growing, and women have been disappearing at a staggering rate for years. The authorities insist that a Belorussian serial killer is an impossibility, but the identical murders of two of Mel's potential informants says otherwise. Mel's determined inquiries about the killings draw the interest of Minsk's untouchable killer and its KGB boss, the terror-inducing "Black Wolf," as her covert mission isolates her from help. Tension builds quickly here, and Minsk's KGB-controlled streets, long hidden from Western visitors, create an atmosphere of dangerous alienation.