Rating: 
Summary: Good, But Not Great, Follow-up to "Los Alamos"
Review: Joseph Kanon's first book was the well crafted "Los Alamos," which took place during 1945. This novel starts a few years later, during the height of the McCarthy red scare in the 1950s and then mvoes forward some twenty years to its conclusion.Nick Kotlar, all of ten years old, is caught up in the McCarthy hearings when his father is suspected of being a spy. When a key witness dies, his father flees the country and settles behind in the Soviet Union. Nick is devastated by his father's actions and his mother later marries a close ffriend of the family. In many ways, the opening chapters are the most compelling as we watch a child deal with the confusion surrounding his father's defection. Years later, the adult Nick is contacted by his father to help him come home by finding the important, and still active spy, who actually was behind his father's fleeing, a move apparently orchestrated to protect the spy from detection. This sets up what starts as an intriguing mystery, but unfortunately it becomes fairly obvious who is behind the entire plot along the way. Nonetheless, there are a few surprising twists, especially near the end, although the book is not quite as satisfying as "Los Alamos." Still, this is a fine story and Kanon has a good ear for dialogue that is credible and realistic. Enjoy it for what it is, a rather satisfying mystery set in the Cold War era.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read, a implausible ending
Review: Joseph Kanon's first novel, Los Alamos, was a great book....... accurate, interesting, beautifully written. Prodigal Spy is all that and more for the first two parts of a three part book. It is a great read and the first 320 pages are absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, the last 100 pages, while still well written and entertaining lack plausibility. Kanon is so good at telling a mesmerizing, true-life story that it is very jarring to suddenly find him ending in a rush of events that just don't work. Despite the disappointing ending, the first two-thirds of the book are so good it is still a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly entertaining
Review: Just finished and could not put it down. Great story plot and kept interest throughout.
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Summary: Kanon tops los alamos
Review: Kanon seems to have a knack for spy stories written during the more interesting time in recent american history. but this story was also about the relationship between nick and his father. the biggest problem i had with the book was that the main villain, Silver, was obvious who it was from the very beginning.
Rating:
Summary: surprisingly gripping
Review: Like others, I also read "Los Alamos", and this is much better. The characters are far more interesting and involving, the plot and setting far more complex and gripping. I was surprised how gripped I was by this book. The only weakness is that the Villain is a bit obvious.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: Not as good as Los Alamos, but definitely well worth reading. Couldn't put the book down after I started.
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Summary: Joseph Kanon brought the fifties and sixties alive for me.
Review: The novel starts off innocent enough, but quickly moves into the intrigue and mystery which befalls Nikku. I had a real strong idea who silver , but I did not expect the ending as it was written.
Rating:
Summary: A quick, intelligent, above-average espionage read.
Review: The pace of this book was strong and swift. I was engrossed from the first pages, interested in the characters and the story, which was unexpected-especially the start from a child's viewpoint (it's nice to read when a child is written both smart and believable) and that the focal characters (son, father, mother) have dimension. I thought it was above average because the people were as interesting as the unfolding of the plot which, though somewhat predictable ultimately (but c'mon, that's why whodunit readers read 'em: so we feel smart that we pretty much knew who the who was), had some neat pivots along the way. The best part about it? The snappy dialogue and the contstantly racing, analyzing mind of the protagonist. That, woven with its backdrop (drawn clearly, without any of that maudlin overdescription), make it worth a read. Made me want to read other stuff Kanon has written.
Rating:
Summary: Move over Le Carre
Review: The Perfect Spy is a fast moving book with great character development. The reader follows the main characters through complex struggles of loyalties and passion as he responds to his father's request for help to return from Czechlovakia during the Cold War. I found the book extraordinarily fast moving and intelligent. It's great to have an American who writes with such passion and compassion about the gray areas of life in a genre that is so often high gloss black and white.
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Summary: Predictable Resolution Wastes Great Potential
Review: The Prodigal Spy begins well with the McCarthyesque trial of Walter Kotlar experienced through the eyes of his son, Nick. Nick's certainty in his father's innnocence he discovers his father has one shirt the size the star witness claims to have sold him and rushes to get rid of the "evidence." Thinking he has fixed the problem, he is devastated when Walter flees after the suicide (murder?) of the key witness against him to turn up much later as a defector in the Soviet Union. Nick may be a bit precocious, but his actions seem plausibly childlike and realistic in his naive belief that getting rid of the shirt got rid of the problem. There is tremendous emotional power in this section of the book and it draws the reader in with its promise. Years pass and and the adult Nick is asked by his father to help him come home by finding the important, and still active spy, who orchestrated Walter's defection in order to protect himself from discovery. This sets up what should be a satisfying and intriguing mystery, except the clues are too obvious and Nick to obtuse to see them. The older Nick isn't as clever as the young Nick or surely he would have solved the mystery of who was the important spy as soon as he discovered his father's lighter was found at the scene of the suicide - now surely a murder. His equally obtuse inability to understand the witness's letter and discover who was the prime mover in this family tragedy was just as frustrating to this reader who wanted to shake him and tell him to just stop and think for one minute. Over all, this is a fine story. It's well-written. The dialogue is credible and it's emotionally satisfying. However, as a mystery it lacks subtlety.
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