The Venona Cable: A Thriller (Volk) [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Brent Ghelfi (Author), Stephen Hoye (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2010 | Series: Volk

The past erupts into the present when the police arrest Alexei Volkovoy, known as Volk, at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and take him to a murder scene. At first, the dead man appears to be just one more victim of Moscow's out-of-control violence. But Volk soon discovers that he is a famous Hollywood filmmaker whose reputation was destroyed in 1995 when the CIA released decrypted documents from the Venona cables-the top-secret American and British crypto-analysis of Soviet messages that implicated the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, Kim Philby, and hundreds of other Soviet spies. Tucked inside the American's pocket is a marked-up Venona intercept that refers to a Russian used as a spy by the Americans, a man who may have been Volk's illustrious father.Aided by his female partner, Valya, Volk's only hope to clear his family name will be to solve this murder and discover how the Venona papers relate to his father's disappearance, while powerful forces want to keep him from investigating the past and to remove him from the present.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A decrypted 1943 cable concerning a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt propels Ghelfi's ambitious third thriller to feature contemporary Russian criminal and spy Alexei Volk Volkovoy (after Volk's Shadow). When the body of Everett Walker, an elderly U.S. cinematographer who was blacklisted by Hollywood, turns up in a Moscow warehouse where Volk used to make pornographic videos, Volk gets charged with Walker's murder. Walker, who came to Russia to look for Volk, was carrying a microdot copy of the cable as well as a photo of himself with Volk's disgraced father, Stepan, who disappeared in 1974. To clear himself, Volk must go to the U.S. to determine whether Stepan was a bona fide agent of the GRU (military intelligence) or a defector and traitor. Neither the Russians nor the Americans are sure which agents are real and which are double, and the doubt goes all the way back to WWII. Plentiful action scenes keep the pages turning. Author tour. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Ghelfi expertly portrays the seamy undersides of Moscow and L.A…. A sure bet for thriller fans.”—Library Journal

"The accolades Ghelfi has received for his Volk novels are well deserved, and this will only add to his acclaim."—Booklist

“Keeps the Cold War hot with the intrigues of … a slate of characters who are seldom what they seem…. Swift, sharp character descriptions and atmospheric evocations of gray, melancholy Moscow and the seedier streets of Los Angeles add style and color to a delectably complicated plot.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This action-packed thriller grips readers from the opening moment”—The Midwest Book Review

“Brent Ghelfi's Volk is back in The Venona Cable, lethal as ever, this time plunging headlong into the heart of L.A. to follow a trail rooted in the closing years of World War II. This is Volk—damaged, intense, perversely moral—at his compelling best.”—Erik Larson, author of Thunderstruck and The Devil in the White City

“The Venona Cable packs more punch than a trunk full of C4.  Action, suspense, and international intrigue are masterfully interwoven in an intelligently written, pulse-pounding thriller that everyone will be talking about. Brent Ghelfi is the new Le Carré.”—Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Apostle

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged,Library - Unabridged CD edition (January 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400143705
• ISBN-13: 978-1400143702
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,355,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Double Trouble, September 1, 2009

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Venona Cable: A Thriller (Hardcover)

The third Volk novel is very different from its predecessors. It is more cerebral and introspective. While the accustomed violence is present, it plays only a peripheral role in the plot. Volk is arrested when an American film director and long-time Communist sympathizer is found murdered in Volk's warehouse. He is freed to find out the real murderer. A secret cable from 1943 is found on the victim, one of many deciphered by the NSA. It describes the decision by FDR and Churchill in 1943 regarding a Second Front, and was sent by an agent known as "19," giving Stalin an edge in negotiations with the Western Allies.

Among the mysteries is a picture found on the murder victim of himself and Volk's father, who supposedly defected to the United States. The question, of course, is whether Volk's father really defected or was a double agent. Volk never knew his father, and part of his quest is to discover the truth about his father as well as his efforts to uncover the reason for the death of the filmmaker.

The plot takes Volk to the United States where he follows the trail from Los Angeles to Albuquerque to Los Alamos. Along the way there are more murders and attempts on Volk's life. Written with the author's usual intensity, the novel takes an deep look at the past and the present, depicting the craft of spying, looking at the subterfuges of the CIA, GRU and other government agencies, asking who is a double agent and how each side tried to steal from the other to achieve superiority during the Cold War (and beyond?).

Highly recommended

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, January 12, 2010

By 

richard_t "richard_t" (Overseas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Venona Cable: A Thriller (Hardcover)

Others, particularly those who read only the first two books in Ghelfi's series, complain about the frequent graphic violence. That's a fair criticism but only part of the story. The novels are deep, well-plotted, complicated, and filled with well-developed interesting characters.

Protagonist Alexei Volkovoy, a Russian commando turned hitman and Kremlin problem solver, is far more than a blood-soaked cardboard character, and in this third novel, we learn more about his past. Volk's father flew a Soviet spy plane to the US in the 1970s in what was either a defection or a carefully-choreographed Soviet disinformation project. Now Volk goes to California to find out which.

Ghelfi's books are fascinating. He's easing up a bit on the violence in this installment, but Volk is still the same menacing character as always. Te story's attraction is really in the complex spy-versus-spy game that Ghelfi unpeels. A well-written, enjoyable novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get on board for a good ride., September 7, 2009

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Venona Cable: A Thriller (Hardcover)

"The Venona Cable" is the third action thriller from Brent Ghelfi.

Russian agent and criminal Alexi Volkovoy "Volk" is back. He's arrested at the Moscow airport and brought to his warehouse. He's shown the murdered body of a former American cinematographer. The victim is Everett Walker. He had been in Moscow for only a short time but was searching for Volk and had a photo of Volk's father, a man who had supposidly disappeared thirty years ago. Volk is questioned by the police, beaten and released so that he could investigate what Walker was doing.

Volk finds that Walker hid a document in his driver's license. He used a sophisticated photographic tecchnique to do so. The document called the Venona Cable revelaed that Roosevelt and Churchill had a meeting called the Trident Conference where they discussed opening up a second front against Germany. Info about the conference came from a secret agent code named "19".

Later, Volk meets former KGB officer Isadora who worked with Volk's father in America. She tells him that his father worked for the aerospace industry at a firm called Loreli Industries.

Capt. Oleg Basoff orders Volk to his office where he tells Volk that Volk's father actually worked for him and that the man was really a double agent. Volk must be on the right track, his boss, General Nonoskaya arranges him to go to America to learn more of his father's activities. However, before he leaves, a police officer named Rykov, tells Volk that he just learned that someone killed Volk's father in 2004 and thinks Basoff had him killed.

When Volk arrives in Albuquerque, he is met by NCIX agent, Elizabeth

Rhodes.

At the Loreli offices, Alfred Reese is protecting information about a new project that he doesn't want Volk to interfere with. He tells his employee, Santorini to take care of Volk. Then the reader finds out who killed Walker and Volk's father.

Volk is an excellent protagonist. He is street smart, tough but still has a tender side when with his girlfriend Valya. He is emotional about his father and shows a longing for the childhood he missed sharing with him. Volk is also admirable in his loyalty to his country.

The action paced plot is complex yet works well. The various agents are well depicted and are properly dealt with.

Ghelfi's two previous novels with Volk, "Volk's Game" and "Volk's Shadow" were both well received and have been optioned for film. This fine novel should join the ranks.

Well done and recommended.