The coldest warrior A novel

Paul Vidich

Book - 2020

In 1953, at the end of the Korean War, Dr. Charles Wilson, an Army bio-weapons scientist, died when he "jumped or fell" from the ninth floor of a Washington hotel. As his wife and children grieve, the details of his death remain buried for twenty-two years. With the release of the Rockefeller Commission report on illegal CIA activities in 1975, LSD is linked to Wilson's death, and suddenly the Wilson case becomes news again. Wilson's family and the press are demanding answers, suspecting the CIA of foul play, and men in the CIA, FBI, and White House conspire to make sure the truth doesn't get out. Enter agent Jack Gabriel, an old friend of the Wilson family who is instructed by the CIA director to find out what real...ly happened to Wilson. It's Gabriel's last mission before he retires from the agency, and his most perilous as he finds a continuing cover-up that reaches to the highest levels of government. Key witnesses connected to the case die from suspicious causes, and Gabriel realizes that the closer he gets to the truth, the more he puts himself and his family at risk. Following in the footsteps of spy fiction greats such as Graham Green, John Le Carre, and Alan Furst, Paul Vidich presents a tale--based on the unbelievable true story told in Netflix's Wormwood--that doesn't shy away from the true darkness in the shadows of espionage.

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Subjects
Genres
Suspense fiction
Spy stories
Political fiction
Thrillers (Fiction)
Detective and mystery fiction
Spy fiction
Published
New York : Pegasus Crime 2020.
Language
English
Main Author
Paul Vidich (author)
Edition
First Pegasus books hardcover edition
Physical Description
216 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-216).
ISBN
9781643133355
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Based on the real-life case of biological warfare scientist Frank Olson, Vidich's lean, crisp third CIA novel (after 2017's The Good Assassin) recreates, then reimagines, the circumstances of Olson's still-unexplained death. In 1975, 22 years after scientific researcher Charles Wilson plunged to his death from the ninth floor of a Washington, D.C., hotel, agency inspector Jack Gabriel is assigned to re-open the case to determine whether it was a suicide, an accident, or something more sinister. Gabriel runs into resistance from the start. He knows that Wilson was secretly drugged by the CIA as part of the agency's LSD experiments of the time, but had always figured Wilson leapt to his death or accidentally fell. Agents who were involved in the original case, most of whom have risen to positions of power at the CIA, not only won't talk but actively warn him off the case. After a few of them die under suspicious circumstances, Gabriel starts to wonder: did the agency kill one of its own? Vidich, a former media industry executive with no spycraft background, writes with the nuanced detail and authority of a career spook. With this outing, Vidich enters the upper ranks of espionage thriller writers. Agent: Will Roberts, Gernert Company. (Feb.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

On November 27, 1953, bioweapons scientist Dr. Charles Wilson jumps--or is pushed--to his death from the ninth floor of a Washington, DC, hotel. Twenty-two years later, after the release of the Rockefeller Report detailing illegal activities performed by the CIA during that time, agent Jack Gabriel is asked to investigate the mysterious death. The investigation is Jack's last mission before he retires from the CIA, and it soon pushes him into the crosshairs of his employer, the FBI, and the office of the president, all of whom are eager to hide that Wilson was part of a top-secret germ warfare experiment carried out on civilians during the Korean War. Jack becomes a target as he looks into Wilson's death and soon discovers that the victim was given LSD before he died. But this truth only leads to more secrets that men in the government would kill to keep. VERDICT Nonfiction and fiction author Vidich (An Honorable Man) presents a fast-paced, historically accurate thriller, placing him alongside other great spy authors such as John le Carré and Alan Furst. Readers of the genre will want this slow-burn chiller that shows how far government will go to keep secrets.--Bill Anderson, Scott Cty. P.L., Scottsburg, IN

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A CIA coverup slowly unravels.In 1953, Dr. Charles Wilson either jumped or fell from a window of the Hotel Harrington. In 1975, at a Senate hearing, it was publicly revealed that he had been subjected to a CIA experiment involving LSD, but the fact that he had been a CIA employee and the details of his work for the agency went undiscovered. Internal records of the death were missing, and the director, himself unaware of the actual circumstances of Wilson's death, asks Jack Gabriel to investigate and report the real story if he can. Gabriel knew Wilson and that he worked in the germ warfare laboratories, and from that starting point he begins to explore the questions surrounding Wilson's death. As he works, potential witnesses die "accidentally," avenues of inquiry dry up, and a substantial coverup becomes apparent. Then an anonymous source offers a few tips, and Gabriel begins to understand the true extent of the CIA's crime: They murdered one of their own. There remain questions, though, and in the process of trying to assess who and why, Gabriel's own life becomes perilous. Overall, the novel's pace is a little slow and the plot one-dimensional, but the characters of Gabriel and his family and of Wilson's surviving family are vivid and sympathetic. Vidich (The Good Assassin, 2017, etc.) acknowledges that his novel is based on the story of Frank Olson, who "fell or jumped" from a New York City hotel room in November 1953, and fidelity to historical fact may account for the pace and plotting. But this fidelity also reveals a shameful instance of postwar conduct and the arrogance of the powerful.A worthwhile thriller and a valuable expos. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.