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Sleeper Spy
A best-selling espionage thriller by the New York Times
406 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
13 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
William Safire
98 books54 followersWilliam Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter.
He was perhaps best known as a long-time syndicated political columnist for the New York Times and a regular contributor to "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine, a column on popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.
He was perhaps best known as a long-time syndicated political columnist for the New York Times and a regular contributor to "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine, a column on popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 23, 2011
I've been a fan of William Safire for a long time but never read one of his novels (I mainly know him through the column he wrote in the NYT Sunday Magazine and his tv appearances). This spy story was reminiscent of vintage John Le Carre--the old Smiley stories It was every bit as confusing and engaging as Le Carre, but upon reflection, I think expected a bit more from Safire.
I enjoyed it immensely, but to say it was spy vs. spy is an understatement. There were layers and layers of deception and disinformation which created a very ingenious plot, but the reader needed either to be sharper than I am to keep up with all of it, or content (as I was) to muddle through the fog at times.
Safire's characters were great and I suspect his protagonist ("the greatest journalist alive") was his alter-ego. There was an element of humanity in the characters that made this more fun and more interesting than routine thrillers. It is essentially a book written to engage and entertain and it did an admirable job of that but I was hoping for a bit more ingenius word play or, perhaps, the sly sense of humor that William Buckley brought to his spy novels.
I enjoyed it immensely, but to say it was spy vs. spy is an understatement. There were layers and layers of deception and disinformation which created a very ingenious plot, but the reader needed either to be sharper than I am to keep up with all of it, or content (as I was) to muddle through the fog at times.
Safire's characters were great and I suspect his protagonist ("the greatest journalist alive") was his alter-ego. There was an element of humanity in the characters that made this more fun and more interesting than routine thrillers. It is essentially a book written to engage and entertain and it did an admirable job of that but I was hoping for a bit more ingenius word play or, perhaps, the sly sense of humor that William Buckley brought to his spy novels.
December 17, 2012
Good story but too complicated to be enjoyable
July 12, 2019
Beware - it's hard to keep track of who's working for the same goal
February 26, 2020
I have never read a book with more plot and character changes. Hard to follow but well worth reading.
October 29, 2024
This book sat on my bookshelf for years. I finally got around to reading it and am glad I did. A very enjoyable spy story with lots of twists and turns and interesting characters.
April 12, 2016
Well, William Safire died so it 19s time to start reading his books. I started with his fiction although I am more eagerly anticipating his non-fiction, renowned wordsmith that he is. Wow, what a great novel! Characters, plot and details, details details about spooks, book publicists/agents, investigative reporting, Current Russian culture, politics, economics, power plays. How to pose, how to recognize a pose, how to interrogate, how to defend against interrogation. And great prose, as in, 1CClauson did not nod or not nod. 1D Gave me some good ideas too, like using a fake ID saying you 19re over 62 to get discounted airfares.
I didn 19t like that Safire explicitly exposed that Fein read reviews aftear all when the perceptive reader already inferred it. Leave it be and let us feel superior for figgering it out.
SPOILER ALERT: I know that Edward Dominick is the sleeper, They both have a 1Clate 1D wife. And the hearing test was too smooth and too easily led to a diagnosis of hearing loss. And, now that I am writing about it I realize that Safire gave us yet another clue 13 the technology exists for hidden hearing aids.
1CHe suspected Liana Krumins knew more than she knew she knew. 1D 13 pg 212, very clever prose. Playful. Then the paragraph that follows is genius, a great plot advancement, intellectually adept and it further develops the Irving Fein character as having an elegantly strategic mind and being driven by his cheapskate nature.
1C 26on rare occasion, in dependence is independence.
I didn 19t like that Safire explicitly exposed that Fein read reviews aftear all when the perceptive reader already inferred it. Leave it be and let us feel superior for figgering it out.
SPOILER ALERT: I know that Edward Dominick is the sleeper, They both have a 1Clate 1D wife. And the hearing test was too smooth and too easily led to a diagnosis of hearing loss. And, now that I am writing about it I realize that Safire gave us yet another clue 13 the technology exists for hidden hearing aids.
1CHe suspected Liana Krumins knew more than she knew she knew. 1D 13 pg 212, very clever prose. Playful. Then the paragraph that follows is genius, a great plot advancement, intellectually adept and it further develops the Irving Fein character as having an elegantly strategic mind and being driven by his cheapskate nature.
1C 26on rare occasion, in dependence is independence.
Read
April 21, 2014It was interesting. Not great, but good for trying something outside of my usual genre. I got confused a lot, because economics is not my strong suit. Even the explanations left me still a little confused. But I expanded my repertoire, so there's a positive.
September 22, 2007
The story is about a mole planted in NY, the twist is nice. I like the character of Viveca Farr here..
November 29, 2012
Great spy novel, almost more twists and turns than I could keep up with. Great ending.
February 16, 2014
Interesting spy novel by an author with great command of the English language.
August 22, 2014
Just shaking my head. Glad it's over. Expected better. Convoluted - too many pages that I had to re-read several times to be sure I was tracking.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews