'An Accidental American' is an Awesome Spy Thriller

Review of AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN (Random House Trade Paperbacks 2007)
Author, Alex Carr

Some genres are automatically associated with certain authors. If I say "tough private eye novel," several names might come to mind--Raymond Chandler, Robert Parker, Dashiell Hammett or Sara Paretsky, to name a few. If I say "Western," you might think of Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour. But if I say "spy novel," most people are bound to think of one author in particular--John LeCarre. (Ian Fleming doesn't count--he wrote adventure/fantasy novels with a spy protagonist, not the complex works infused with moral ambiguity that are modern spy novels.)

From now on, when I hear "spy novel," I'll also think of Alex Carr.

AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN is about Nicole Blake, who's trying to live a quiet life on a mountain farm in France after doing time for counterfeiting in a women's prison in Marseille. Her contented existence is disrupted by the appearance of John Valsamis, a U.S. intelligence operative who wants Nicole to find her former lover, Rahim Ali, because he's believed to be a terrorist. With a few photos of terrorist bombing victims (and one of Ali meeting with a known terrorist), Valsamis persuades Nicole to help him. But, of course, Valsamis is not telling her everything--and Nicole is going to find that out the hard way.

I've never been one for highly-descriptive prose, but this book gave me a new appreciation for good description and how it can be used to set a book's tone and create almost unbearable suspense at times. I also particularly liked the non-linear narrative, which shifted perspectives in a kaleidoscopic manner and moved back and forth in time (once or twice, I got confused--for the most part, it was smoothly executed). Carr's storytelling skills are exemplary--the various pieces of the narrative are layered on like brush strokes until the whole picture finally emerges. The story manages to provide fascinating character studies and be an engrossing page-turner--packed with the kind of double- and triple-crosses we've come to expect from the spy genre (not to mention the unearthing of long-buried family secrets).

Most of the story is told in third person--with the exception of Nicole's part, told in first person (a device that makes us identify with her all the more). And, though the "bad guys" are anything but lovable, they aren't caricatures--in fact, they're all too human.

Apart from flashbacks, the action takes place shortly before the U.S. invasion of Iraq following 9/11 (mention is made of Colin Powell's speech to the U.N. Security Council, WMDs, etc.) and the story skillfully combines history (both recent and not-so-recent) with fiction--a process Carr discusses in a postscript.

So, when you think "spy novel," think of Alex Carr. I hope this book will be only one of many to make her an icon of the genre.