Walking Back the Cat

By Robert Littell

Book Overview

Now back in print'a mesmerizing espionage thriller from the bestselling author of "The Company" Robert Littell has made a name for himself as one of the foremost authors of literary spy thrillers. Here, Littell abandons his usual East European milieu to focus on New Mexico, where a Sovietera KGB agent, code-named Parsifal, has been living under deep cover. Reactivated by a new controller for some particularly brutal ?wetwork murder?Parsifal's suspicions are aroused. Fearing a double- cross, he begins, in espionage lingo, ?walking back the cat retracing the operation to find the source of the deception. His manhunt leads him to an Apache-run casino where he crosses paths with CIA operatives, Apaches, and Finn, a disillusioned Gulf War vet with his own investigation to pursue.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143113577
• ISBN13: 9780143113577
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Improbable Plot--Still A Fine Read

A veteran of the Gulf War (Finn) finds himself with legal problems in Seattle. He flies off in a gondola to escape the deputy sheriff. He ends up landing in an Apache reservation in New Mexico. He makes friends with the Apaches and discovers that their casino is being extorted. Trying to get help to put an end to the thievery he approaches the local newspaper publisher who unknown to Finn is involved in the conspiracy. He is betrayed and a meeting is set up for him to meet an FBI agent. There is no FBI agent. Enter Parsifal, KGB agent living under deep cover. Parsifal is an interesting character. Brilliant, deadly and with an extreme sense of smell.Parsifal was ready to terminate Finn when some things about the mission don't seem right to him. After much talk they decide to collobarate and get to the bottom of things. It turns out that some former CIA officers had set up an operation to continue the cold war with the funds from the casino. They got a high level KGB defector who gave them all the operative information on Soviet U.S. operations. So, they were in fact controlling the KGB's top assassin (Parsifal) in the U.S. Plenty of excitement and a quick read at 218 pages.

good plus easy to read

I enjoyed this book and found it very easy to read finishing it in one long day. I particularily liked the character development of the Soviet killer Parsifal and would have enjoyed a whole book or at least a few more chapters about him getting to be what he was. The Indian stories and their gambling was tied in and fit in the story well.

Robert Littell continues to produce great spy stories.

Robert Littell doesn't seem to get the recognition he deserves. Every time I read one of his novels I am pleasantly suprised. Walking Back the Cat is a great read, with great character development.