Soho Press

A new edition of the spy classic by Robert Littell, New York Times bestselling master of the espionage thriller.

The black comedy follows a pawn in the American military complex whose decision to change sides might determine the outcome of the Cold War.

Having spent most of his academic career studying ceramic nose cones for ballistic missiles, American scientist A.J. Lewinter is used to being a cog in the machine—until, while at an academic conference in Tokyo, he rushes into the Russian Embassy offering to defect.

Hard-edged US intelligence operative Diamond sets out to figure out what, if anything, Lewinter knows; on the Soviet side, KGB agent Pogodin must decipher whether this high-level defection is another ruse in a long-standing war. Neither global superpower knows what to expect from Lewinter, the wild card, but both sides know this: if he’s telling the truth, his information could be the final turning point of the Cold War.

A darkly funny spy thriller from one of the most brilliant voices of espionage fiction, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter is a shockingly prescient portrayal of international politics.