The Coldest Warrior - Paul Vidich

New novel by Paul Vidich, a tale of espionage and a cold case

Paul Vidich has written a fictional tale set around an almost too good to be true story, delving into the 1950s and the height of the cold war tension between America and the Soviet Union.

The story Vidich weaves revolves around the unresolved death of Dr. Charles Wilson, a government scientist, who died in 1953 when one night in his Washington hotel he 'jumped or fell' from the ninth floor plummeting to his death.

The full details of his death have remained buried for twenty-two years, so following the release of the Rockefeller Commission report on illegal CIA activities in 1975, the Wilson case becomes a hot topic in the nation's capital.

Wilson's family want answers, enter agent Jack Gabriel, an old friend of the Wilson family who is instructed by the CIA director to find the truth. Yet the deeper Jack digs into the past, the changing world comes back to nip him in the butt, key witnesses connected to the case die from suspicious causes leading Jack to believe his entire family and career are at stake.

Vidich following in esteemed footsteps of Greene, Le Carre, has weaved a gripping novel that grips you throughout; yet Vidich does a great job of painting a picture of how Washington must have been during the 1970s when following Watergate the city was a perilous pit of distrust and paranoia.

The tale whips along at quite a pace, yet the tensest moment of the book was when Charles Wilson's body has to be exhumed - the tension of the piece as Wilson's son stands awaiting the coffin to open is cranked up to maximum effect and is the lasting impression of this book.

While already forming the basis of the Netflix series, Wormwood, the story is again ripe for another adaptation with sharp 1950s suits combating against each other in the search for truth - the battle was less agains the USSR but more between the CIA and FBI in this battle alliteration confrontation.

The Coldest Warrior is published by No Exit Press on 27 February 2020.

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things for the review opportunity and to appear on the blogtour starting February 24th.