MOSCOW X by David McCloskey

(Lefortovo Prison, Moscow, Russia)

A few months ago, I was introduced to David McCloskey’s first novel, DAMASCUS STATION. The book was a “thriller,” and though it was a fictional account that focused in large part on the Syrian Civil War, its realistic portrayal of events had characteristics of non-fiction and created a portal for the reader to view events in the Middle East through the lens of an American intelligence operative. Further, it offered an accurate portrayal of how CIA agents operated in the field, how they were trained, and why their work is so important to American national security. In his newest novel McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and consultant at McKinsey and Company has authored MOSCOW X another entertaining work that a former CIA operative describes as a “brilliant novel that captures the nuances of field work in hostile environments and the terror that grips every intelligence officer when confronting enemies.”

In his latest effort McCloskey creates an intricate plot that must be followed carefully. It opens as an FSB agent on a mission from the FSB head steals an enormous sum of money from a billionaire oligarch who preceded the FSB head. In response to this action, the oligarch’s daughter, an SVR operative plots to recover the money and respond to threats against her family’s wealth. The daughter is married to another FSB agent, who also happens to be in charge of $700 million of Vladimir Putin’s personal treasure.

(Drone photo of the palace, which sits some 18 kilometers down the coast from the popular Russian holiday town of Gelendzhik)

As the novel evolves, McCloskey introduces two scenarios. First, we are introduced to Artemis Aphrodite Proctor, CIA Station Chief in Tajikistan, who succumbs to a honey trap set by the FSB and refuses recruitment resulting in her dispatch to Langley, Virginia. The actions Proctor takes form a central part of the story. Second, involves the wealth of Andrei Apagov, chairman of Rossiya Industrial, a Russian conglomerate swollen with the state’s most strategic assets. Apagov’s bank is robbed of 200 gold bars by FSB Lieutenant Colonel Konstantine Konstanstinovich Chernov, a Russian nationalist whose boss, Vassily Platonovich Gusev, known as “Goose,” has ordered the seizure against an old foe. Apagov wants his daughter Anna who is a SVR operative to investigate what has occurred before they confront President Putin who may lock them away in Siberia and steal the rest of their wealth. It is Anna’s job to infiltrate Goose’s operation to recover the family’s assets and in doing so must use her estranged husband Vadim Kovalchuk, head of the Private Wealth Division at Bank Rossiya as bait.

These two scenarios come together and at times overlap as the espionage thriller evolves. McCloskey creates the realistic atmosphere of spy tradecraft. His discussion of what it was like to enter Russia as an outsider, the types of surveillance Russians employ, the tools needed to survive all seem spot on, i.e., various devices CIA and FSB “techies” can deliver; preparation for the op – plying people with vodka, creating antidotes for Russian food and drinking etc. McClosky provides an in depth analysis as to how the FSB goes after someone it is trying to ruin as Stalin’s NKVD used to argue that “your lack of a criminal record is not to your merit. It is our flaw.”

Apart from the characters previously mentioned, McCloskey introduces a series of personalities that are key to the story’s development. Hortensia (Sia) Fox works at the Hynes, Dawson law firm which laundered money and protected oligarch wealth at the same time as working for the CIA. Maximiliano Castillo, a Mexican horse rancher whose family has worked with the CIA for decades. Most importantly is Aphrodite Proctor who upon returning to CIA headquarters developed an operation to flip Anna or her estranged husband, Vadim as a means of gaining access to important personal information pertaining to Putin’s wealth. McClosky carefully develops each character and their personal agendas as the plot unfolds – a plot that is emblematic of the CIA–FSB conflict that is ongoing today.

(David McCloskey, author)

There are other important characters, but the key is that as Proctor employs Sia and Max to recruit Anna for the CIA, Anna is trying to recruit Sia for the SVR. Sia and Anna would soon realize they had a common enemy and should work together despite the fact they had different goals in mind. They will form a key element as the CIA hopes to take advantage of internal Russian squabbles concerning money, property, and Putin’s overall wealth.

McCloskey introduces a different element in his current work that differs from DAMASCUS STATION and events pertaining to the Syrian Civil War. The use of technology is at the forefront of the effort to gain secrets relevant to Putin’s wealth. Different technologies are integrated into the story as CIA “techies” penetrate Vadim’s personal computer and other sites and sources which takes the plot to a new level.

The details of surveillance, arrests, threats, disinformation, and violence are all essential to the outcome of the plot. McCloskey’s observations are relevant to today’s attitude by large swaths of the Russian population. As Anna argues with Sia that she does not want to overthrow Putin. She sees herself as a Russian patriot believing that Russia has always been ruled by an autocrat and that governmental system is the only way the Russian people can survive. She argues that the Russian people seem comfortable with corruption and chaos which was the norm and she, as most Russians today have no problem with it.

McCloskey has authored another intense espionage caper mixing tradecraft and glitz to maintain the reader’s attention. The plot is loaded with double and triple crosses and after about 100 pages you will not want to stop reading this mesmerizing tale of intrigue.