THE HELSINKI AFFAIR by Anna Pitoniak

5 stars

Amanda Cole feel punished as a rising CIA agent for her boring assignment to the Rome bureau, where nothing exciting happens except for diplomat visits and parties. That is until one late afternoon when she’s the only one in the office on a hot summer day and she agrees to take a meeting with a low-level Russian bureaucrat who’s desperate to share information he overhead that a U.S. Senator visiting Cairo is about to be assassinated. Amanda hears him out and ultimately believes him, only to hit up against complete dismissal by her sexist Bureau Chief. When the assignation take place, Amanda finds herself as new Rome Bureau chief as well as the agent running the Russian operative. She gets partnered with a tough, crafty, seasoned bureau partner, CIA legend Kath, in her quest to figure out who’s behind the assignation – the KBG, the KRU, the Kremlin?

Meanwhile, Amanda’s Dad, Charlie, who’s about to retire from the service, comes across private notes from the Senator that he shares with Amanda, including a cryptic mention of his own name among the notes. A secondary plot unravels back in time with Charlie as a young agent in Helsinki with a young wife and daughter and struggling to find any Russian spies of his own to run. How his marriage unravels and the Helsinki affair connected to it will intersect brutally with the main plot.

Amanda finds herself up against double agents, sophisticated stock value manipulations, blackmail, murder and mayhem as she races to sort out just what is really going on.

Got to love this latest missive from the incredible Anne Pitoniak!

Thanks Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.