Reviewed by Roger M. Woodbury for Readers' Favorite

Anastas Molotov is a spy for the Soviet Union. A young spy, Molotov is bright and energetic, but not as one would normally think a Russian spy would be. Indeed, Anastas and his young, attractive wife are ambitious in a totally different direction. Edgar Davies is a middle-aged British gemstone broker. He has traveled extensively through Europe and when "Doomed Spy" by J.R. Rogers opens, he is in Leopoldville, in the "old" Belgian Congo. It is here that he meets the young Anastas Molotov. Edgar Davies is also a spy for the British Secret Service, MI6. Like Molotov, Davies also harbors some deep-seated secrets revealed to a surprised reader as the story progresses. "Doomed Spy" recounts the story of how these two men, each very different but each with remarkable similarities, meet and meet again. Each, unbeknownst to the other, has very similar objectives and desires far different from merely those of opposing intelligence services, yet all the while, remarkably the same.

As in any good spy thriller, nothing necessarily is as it seems. J.R.Rogers leads the reader from one encounter to another as we meet the various members of both the Soviet and the British intelligence operations in diverse locations. Rogers describes the settings and the reader is treated to a pleasant tour of first, hot, sultry Leopoldville and then the beautiful Montevideo with its broad streets, avenues and old, near-European-style architecture. The reader sees first Molotov's, then Davies's missions as their secret desires are revealed slowly, right up to a finale totally unexpected.

The author's attention to detail is quite microscopic but the details never detract nor derail the reader's interest. I was swept along, reading large numbers of pages while never knowing the hour hands on the clock had covered so much territory. Only one small error stole me out of the story for a moment: the shutter on a Leica M3 is nearly silent which is why the cameras became the standard for journalistic and private setting photography in their day. Vaguely reminiscent of the early writing of John LeCarre', Rogers is a fine writer of this genre and "Doomed Spy" is a novel that is a must read.