Two Spies in Caracas: A Novel

Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Power comes an edge-of-your-seat political thriller about rival spies, dangerous love, and one of history's most devastating revolutions. Venezuela, 1992. Unknown colonel Hugo Chavez stages an ill-fated coup against a corrupt government, igniting the passions of Venezuela's poor and catapulting the oil-rich country to international attention. For two rival spies hurriedly dispatched to Caracas - one from Washington, DC, and the other from Fidel Castro's Cuba - this is a career-defining mission. Smooth-talking Ivan Rincon of Cuba's Intelligence Directorate needs a rebel ally to secure the future of his own country. His job: support Chavez and the revolution by rallying the militants and neutralizing any opposing agents. Meanwhile, the CIA's Cristina Garza will do everything in her power to cut Chavez's influence short. Her priority: stabilize the greatest oil reserves on the planet by ferreting out and eliminating Cuba's principal operative. As Chavez surges to power, Ivan and Cristina are caught in the fallout of a toxic political time bomb: an intrepid female reporter and unwitting informant, a drug lord and key architect in Chavez's rise, and personal entanglements between the spies themselves. With everything at stake, the adversaries find themselves at the center of a game of espionage, seduction, murder, and shifting alliances playing out against the precarious backdrop of a nation in free fall. A thrilling fictional story based on unimaginable real-life events.

Moises Naim is a Venezuelan author and prize-winning journalist whose writing on international affairs is read worldwide, appearing in such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, El Pais, and many others. He is the author of twelve nonfiction books, including Illicit and the New York Times bestseller The End of Power. A former contributing editor to The Atlantic, Naim was also the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine for fourteen years. Two Spies in Caracas, his first work of fiction, is based on his experience as a former member of Venezuela's economic cabinet. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family. For more information visit www.moisesnaim.com.

Praise for Two Spies in Caracas A New York Times Globetrotting Pick! An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense "Naim wields his experiences as an international affairs writer and former Venezuelan economic cabinet member to provide authoritative insights into the severe economic downturns and rises in violence stemming from the power plays of external actors seeking to exploit a vulnerable nation in turmoil. This is a must for anyone who wants to explore this tumultuous and often strange period in modern Latin American history." -Publishers Weekly Praise for The End of Power "A remarkable new book by the remarkable Moises Naim." -Richard Cohen, Washington Post "Naim is a courageous writer who seeks to dissect big subjects in new ways." -Wall Street Journal "[A] highly original, interdisciplinary meditation on the degeneration of international power...The End of Power makes a truly important contribution." -Washington Post "This fascinating book...should provoke a debate about how to govern the world when more and more people are in charge." -Foreign Affairs "After you read The End of Power, you will see the world through different eyes. Moises Naim provides a compelling and original perspective." -Arianna Huffington "[Naim] makes his case with eloquence." -Financial Times "A timely and timeless book." -Booklist "Having served as editor in chief of Foreign Policy and executive director of the World Bank, Naim knows better than most what power on a global scale looks like...[A] timely, insightful, and eloquent message." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The End of Power will change the way you read the news, the way you think about politics, and the way you look at the world." -William Jefferson Clinton "In my own experience as president of Brazil, I observed firsthand many of the trends that Naim identifies in this book, but he describes them in a way that is as original as it is delightful to read. All those who have power-or want it-should read this book." -Fernando Henrique Cardoso