In 1942, at the height of World War II, Ernest Hemingway sought
permission form J. Edgar Hoover to operate a spy ring out of his ranch
in Cuba. This much is true...
In a beautifully realized work
of fierce originality, award-winning author Dan Simmons expands a
little-known fact into a tour de force of historical suspense.
It
is the summer of '42, and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the
behest of the Director to keep an eye on Ernest Hemingway, who has
recklessly decided to play spy in the Caribbean. Lucas has been
instructed to somehow gain the great writer's trust and friendship, but
all the agent's cool intellect and training has left him unprepared to
withstand the human whirlwind known as "Papa."
Hemingway has
assembled a spy ring that he calls the "Crook Factory" – including an
American millionaire, a twelve-year-old Cuban orphan, a Spanish jai
alai champion, a priest, and a fisherman, among others – to play a
dangerous game of amateur espionage. Then, against all odds, Hemingway
uncovers a critical piece of intelligence, and the game turns deadly
for himself, Lucas, and for untold innocents.
In The Crook Factory,
Dan Simmons weaves an unforgettable tale of riveting suspense, peopled
by larger-than-life characters who inhabit the sensual, intoxicating
Cuban landscape of the 1940s. It is a novel of honor, passion and
chilling conspiracy.
And it could very well have happened...
