Over twenty years ago, William F. Buckley Jr. launched the dashing character of Blackford Oakes like a missile over the literary landscape. This newly minted CIA agent -- brainy, bold, and complex -- began his career by saving the queen of England and quickly took his place in the pantheon of master spies drawn up by Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, and John le Carre .Against the backdrop of Cold War intrigue, in this his eleventh outing, Oakes crosses swords with Kim Philby, perhaps the highest-ranking in the parade of defectors to the Soviet Union. Oakes is now himself a master spy, this time working outside the ambit of the director and around agency rules. His romance with an able and worldly Soviet doctor is consolation for the death of his beloved Sally. But after his return to Washington, he receives dismaying news. It is inevitable that the great Soviet spy and the renowned American agent will meet again -- this time with deadly consequences.
When a shadowy Russian mole infiltrates President Eisenhower's National Security Counsel, CIA super-secret agent Blackford Oakes is called in to unmask the imposter. Then, Oakes turns the tables on the Communists by piloting a spy plane on a one-way mission behind the Iron Curtain. Sentenced to death and trapped in the depths of prison, Oakes may have turned his last trick.
When a shadowy Russian mole infiltrates President Eisenhower's National Security Counsel, CIA super-secret agent Blackford Oakes is called in to unmask the imposter. Then, Oakes turns the tables on the Communists by piloting a spy plane on a one-way mission behind the Iron Curtain. Sentenced to death and trapped in the depths of prison, Oakes may have turned his last trick.
Havana, 1961. President Kennedy has selected CIA super-secret agent Blackford Oakes to meet with Che Guevara as part of Operation Alligator: a plan to bring about an era of détente in East-West relations. The communists, however, have another agenda in mind: a double-cross with terrifying consequences. Soon, Oakes is trapped and the heat is on.
CIA spy Blackford Oakes has been entrusted with restoring a war-damaged German chapel. The owner of the chapel is an old friend and charismatic war hero, rallying his countrymen toward reunification and creating panic on both sides of the Iron Curtain. When Oakes is thrown into the arms of a beautiful KGB agent, he must betray her or pull the switch on his friend.
It’s 1956, Blackford Oakes is back from Budapest and all attention is focused on the race to put the first satellite in space. Russia and America each have the secrets the other needs. The solution? Kidnap a pair of Russian scientists. Oakes is in charge, unaware that KGB spymaster Bolgin and a trio of Hungarian freedom fighters are hot on his trail.
