Description

"ENTHRALLING."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Alexsi is caught by the NKVD and given a choice: disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka or be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany.

Now Alexsi has no choice but to live as the devoted nephew of a high-ranking Nazi official, and ultimately for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm Canaris, all the while acting as a double agent--reporting back to the NKVD and avoiding detection by the Gestapo. Trapped between two of the most notorious dictatorships in history, Alexsi's goal is the same as it has always been: show loyalty to no one, and survive at all costs.

But soon Alexsi is tested when he is chosen by the Gestapo to spearhead one of the most desperate operations of the war: to infiltrate the site of the Tehran conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin--and ensure their assassination. For Alexsi, it's the moment of truth. What does he believe in and who is worth fighting for? Meanwhile, the fate of the world hangs in the balance. . .