Spytrap by William Crisp. New York. 1983. Pantheon Books. 192 pages. Jacket illustration by Vivienne Flesher. 0394529715. March 1983.
An imaginative spy thriller.
FROM THE PUBLISHER -
For one young intelligence officer stationed in Vienna, the assumptions and realities of life-both professional and private-seem utterly clear. Confident and cosmopolitan, he is rapidly advancing in his country's service. Combining an ambitious self-assurance with a detached thoroughness, he is, seemingly, well prepared for his latest and most dangerous assignment: the compromising of a well-placed enemy agent. But, as he proceeds with his carefully conceived plan, he discovers that the challenge before him is far more complex and hazardous than he had ever imagined. The jealous head of embassy security is determined to trip him up; his prey, it becomes clear, is far too cunning to be taken lightly; and, finally, a Bulgarian ambassador's beautiful daughter unleashes in him a totally unexpected passion. When all these forces collide, events accelerate beyond his control as he forgets the most fundamental credo of his profession-that, sometimes, things are not quite what they seem. Writing with skill and a winning intelligence, William Crisp plunges his all-too-human spy into a deadly world of superpower intrigue, a perilous arena where the crucial jockeying for power and profit can extend from the posh boardrooms of multinationals down to the dark and forgotten side streets of cosmopolitan Vienna. In the end, SPYTRAP is a thoroughly entertaining, and surprisingly moving, story of a dedicated man suddenly engulfed in the most dangerous currents of international espionage, and swept along toward a trap that few will see coming.
William Crisp, a native of Suffolk, Virginia, worked in Vienna as the East European specialist for business International. SPYTRAP is his first novel.