Author(s): Thomas H. Cook

General Fiction

This is an extraordinary breakout novel from Thomas H. Cook. By turns this is a spy thriller, a war story, a saga of betrayal, vengeance and obsessive love, and the story of a lifelong quest resolved, finally, by a series of mind-wrenching plot twists. In 1939, Thomas Jefferson Danforth, a privileged man in his twenties, became embroiled in a plot that could have changed the world - a plot to kill Hitler. Now, in his ninety-first year, at the dawn of a troubled new era, he sits in the luxury of New York's Century Club and tells his tale to the young man from Washington he has summoned, for reasons of his own, to hear it. Danforth travelled to Europe to provide cover for a mysterious female assassin, Anna Klein, who posed as his secretary. Fuelled by the enigma of her origins, Danforth fell deeply and obsessively in love. Was she, as she claimed, an Armenian orphaned by the Turkish genocide of 1915? Which of the roles she played represents the real Anna Klein? The assassination was to take place at a Munich restaurant, but Hitler left early, and the conspirators were arrested by the Gestapo. To his surprise, Danforth was released, but of Anna there was no word. The plotters were betrayed - but why, and by whom? Was it possible that Anna herself could have been the traitor? These are the questions that shape Danforth's life and quest in the decades that follow. It is a journey of ever-shifting alliances and betrayals that will lead him across a war-torn world, from the ruins of Berlin to the Road of Skulls in Stalin's gulag archipelago, from a hovel in the Ukraine to the Caspian port of Baku, in search of the answers that will piece together the real story of Anna Klein. This title is suitable for fans of commercial crime fiction with a literary edge, such as Philip Kerr, Carlos Ruiz Zafon and David Downing.

Review from our February Newsletter: The novel, a narrative within a narrative, alternately reveals the story of Thomas Jefferson Danforth - an heir to wealth, who, in 1939 as a privileged young man in his twenties was running the family importing business from his New York offices and Paul Crane, a novice employee of a Washington think tank concerning itself with what was once known as Soviet Studies. They meet in New York City, at the invitation of a ninety-one-year-old Danforth, in the winter of 2001 for what the elder thought might prove a useful exchange of information relevant to defending America against fanatics, especially in light of the recent 9/11 terrorist attacks. This is more than just another WWII espionage thriller, The Quest for Anna Klein, is as it denotes, a story of a quest; the journey of one man's life dedicated to his singular great obsession: the woman he loves. Anna Klein is simply a woman of circumstance; a master linguist, a natural-born chameleon with a haunted past, who is enlisted for a "Project" by the OSS or some such. Danforth happens into the mix as he is called upon by an operative, his close associate named Clayton, to provide his upstate retreat as the setting for Anna's secret training. Drawn in by the obvious intrigue, he quickly agrees. So it is there at Winterset where she is expertly coached in the ballistic arts, and where, for Danforth and Anna, the seeds of love first germinate. When the plan ultimately goes wrong and Klein disappears, Danforth’s quest begins: it is a journey of ever-shifting alliances and betrayals that will lead him across a war-torn world in search of answers. Danforth must find her. Throughout the war and beyond he embarks on this marathon quest that costs him nearly all. Anna might have been a double or even triple agent he learns, and his pursuit takes him to postwar Europe and points East. In the Soviet Union he’s arrested and sent to a gulag for twelve years. The best espionage and mystery novels are not about spies and plots and murders but about conflicted souls and the sorry truths they discover about the human condition. 'Quest' offers fine glimpses of that, though the story may stall some readers looking for a fast-paced spy tale. The narrative framed with Crane creates many switches in time, the first third can be slow going as Danforth sets up his story, however it is worth hanging in there. You'll be rewarded at the end.

Christine