The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen: A Novel [Hardcover]

Thomas Caplan (Author), Bill Clinton (Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: January 10, 2012

A former soldier turned movie star turned spy must stop a catastrophic nuclear weapons deal.

This gripping thriller from Thomas Caplan propels readers around the globe-from Hollywood to Rome, the Black Sea to the Mediterranean-and to the very brink of nuclear abyss.

The novel's charismatic hero, former covert operative Ty Hunter, has become, almost by accident, the number one film star in the world. When he is recruited on a clandestine mission to thwart the transfer of nuclear warheads into rogue hands, he must deploy every skill he has as an actor, soldier, and spy. Donning his fame as a disguise, Ty matches wits and muscle with the enigmatic billionaire Ian Santal and his nefarious protégé Philip Frost-two supremely sophisticated adversaries- even as he falls in love with the entrancing young woman closest to them both, the jewelry designer Isabella Cavill.

In prose that is both elegant and powerful, The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen gives us a breakneck parable of good and evil-and a hero in the tradition of James Bond and Jason Bourne, who is sure to become an icon of the genre.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2012: Soldier turned actor Ty Hunter craves nothing more than some R&R after his latest Hollywood blockbuster…until he’s tasked with thwarting a potential nuclear arms deal. Using his celebrity sway and former training, Hunter goes undercover within a wealthy, powerful inner circle in search of a rogue. A sketchy businessman with Russian dealings and a megalomaniac ‘collector’ of riches top the list of suspects, while Isabella Cavill, a jewelry maker for foreign and often questionable clients, is a charming, if not entirely trustworthy, love interest. Hunter struggles to come to terms with a violent military past in order to complete the job, and his reluctance adds to his heroic charm. Stylish and smooth, Hunter is a protagonist reminiscent of James Bond-era machismo, where sophistication reigns supreme.

Bill Clinton pens the introduction, and author Thomas Caplan writes with decisive, well-paced prose. Part spy thriller, part Hollywood dazzler, The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen is a satisfying and fun intrigue story. --Heather Dileepan

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Caplan takes a long time between novels (his last, Grace and Favor, was published in 1998), but this one was definitely worth the wait. It has a kick-ass premise. Ty Hunter, once an intelligence officer and now a major movie star (it’s a lot more plausible than it sounds), is tasked by the U.S. president to find out whether billionaire Ian Santel has anything to do with some nukes stolen by a now-deceased Russian colonel. The novel boasts great, James Bond–style supporting characters—the colorful Santel; his alluring goddaughter, Isabella Cavill, who designs expensive jewelry and seems to have designs on Ty; Santel’s protégé and henchman, Philip Frost. And it has a story that, with its action and intrigue, is guaranteed to keep readers glued to their seats. This is the kind of novel that the superb Trevanian might have written; his Jonathan Hemlock, art professor, mountaineer, and assassin, is surely no more nor less imaginatively conceived and executed than Ty Hunter. An excellent, don’t-dare-miss-it kind of thriller. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (January 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670023213
• ISBN-13: 978-0670023219
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS CAPLAN is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. In addition to THE SPY WHO JUMPED OFF THE SCREEN, he is the author of three novels: Line of Chance; Parallelogram; and Grace and Favor. He was a founder and former Chairman of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and is currently board member emeritus of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, which is based at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. He lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and travels frequently abroad, especially to England.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Diverting read, fairly tightly plotted, author clearly did his homework January 15, 2012

By M. D. HEALY

Format:Hardcover

According to both the intro by Bill Clinton and the NPR interview with the author that led me to buy a copy, President Clinton tightened up an early draft. From which I suspect that draft must have suffered from the same problem as I constantly need to fight in my own technical writing: an attachment to fascinating details that were learned in doing the research. For my own prose, I must constantly ask myself: what do my colleagues need to know in order to advance their own research? For a thrilller, the author should constantly ask himself or herself: what do my readers need to know either to advance the plot or understand the characters? And which details should be left out, not because tbey are unimportant in general but because they do not fit this technical report or this novel.

Caplan has a brilliantly original concept for his main character, a serviceable if less original plot (stop the sale of old Soviet nukes), and clearly did considerable research on the technical details required to make such a plot believable. His research into such details was much better than the average thriller. I'm no expert on military technologies or espionage, I am a civilian scientist, but I do have a pretty good idea what is and is not feasible within the current state of the art of computer and aerospace technology. At some point while reading the average techno-thriller or watching the average action movie, I become irritated by the number of details that betray the writer's limited grasp of what really is feasible. At no point in reading this novel did I exclaim to myself "but it could not work that way!" Caplan must have done an unusually thorough job of research for me to get through an entire novel without being annoyed by tech blunders.

Aside from the residual pacing issues, the other issue I have with this novel is the feeling I knew more than I should have known about what the bad guys were doing and not enough about the main characters as people. At many points we readers already knew stuff the good characters were still trying to find out, because we got to see the villains discussing their plans. It would have been better to let us readers learn these things only by watching the heroes discover them. And by removing most of the scenes where the bad guys discuss their plans, Caplan would have had room for more character development among those trying to catch the villains.

Overall, this book was a good read: I was up until about 1:30 AM last night finishing it. In my younger days staying up late to finish a book was common, but in middle age I usually put it aside until the next day! So keeping me up late shows a thriller is well above average.

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I won't be waiting for the film of this one... January 15, 2012

By Susan Tunis TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

It's not every day that you see a thriller introduced by a former President of the United States, but Bill Clinton does exactly that for his old college pal "Tommy" Caplan. Unfortunately, President Clinton's introduction is the most interesting and well-written part of the book. The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen was not worthy of his attention.

It's the story of a nasty duo who are putting together a deal to broker three decommissioned Soviet nukes to the highest bidders. The high-concept twist is that POTUS conscripts a top Hollywood star to go undercover on the trail of the nukes, figuring only someone like Ty Hunter can gain access to the yacht of the mega-wealthy bad guy. Full disclosure: Ty Hunter is everything I hate in a protagonist. When the President and one of his advisors approaches Ty about going under cover, the conversation goes like this:

"Me? I'm an actor."
"Don't be disingenuous," Kenneth said. "You're much more than an actor, and you know it."
"When you were a mere second lieutenant, in the army and attached to Task Force 508," the President asked, "what were you then? You were a commando in an oiled-cotton sweater who possessed every martial arts skill known to man."
"Not every," Ty said.
"You spoke Mandarin and Arabic and Spanish with a fluency that made you indistinguishable from any native."

And so forth. OMG, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Ty Hunter, box-office superstar! I mean, I'm sorry, but is there anything remotely realistic about that character? Or interesting? And for a guy about whom it is repeatedly asserted he is looking for love, he sure seems to be prepared to hop into bed with any number of beautiful women. I absolutely detested the "romantic" sub-plot of this novel.

I really have nothing good to say. The novel dragged on interminably. The pacing was deadly. The plot vacillated between predictable and boring. The dialog was stilted and embarrassing. ("Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to kiss you." "Then please do. I'd like you to.") I never cared enough about a single one of the characters ultimately to care about what happened to them. (But tell us how you really feel, Susan.)

Look, it's not the worst book I've ever read. There's almost always something worse. But I honestly can't recommend this "thriller" on any level. And there's something even more unforgivable. In his acknowledgements page, Mr. Thomas alludes to this being the first Ty Hunter story. Please, no more, no more! I just can't face it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars sleeper - not in a good way April 30, 2012

By eric hobson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love to read action and spy novels. However this was soooo slow that it literally put me to sleep. I like to read for an hour before going to sleep, but this book had me falling asleep within minutes of picking it up. I normally finish a book of this size in 3 - 4 days, this took me 2+ weeks to finish. I even fell asleep during the final action scene. Bill Clinton may be a college buddy of the author and helped him with editing the manuscript, but the author would have bee better off with a real editor.