Cover image of "The Helsinki Affair," a novel that centers on a Russian walk-in

After 17 years as an officer in the CIA’s Clandestine Service, Amanda Cole chafes under diplomatic cover in Rome as the economic attaché. She’s bored. And her boss, three decades her senior, frustrates her every attempt to take the initiative. Then a nervous Russian walk-in describes a threat to the life of a senior United States Senator. Konstantin Nikolaievich Semonov is an officer in the dreaded GRU. He’s credible. Amanda tries to persuade her boss, the Chief of Station, to raise the alarm. Because the assassination of Senator Bob Vogel is about to take place in Cairo. But he refuses to act on what he considers disinformation. And when Vogel dies precisely as Semonov predicted, a chain of events begins to unfold that will shake the CIA, profoundly change Amanda’s life, and threaten her relationship with the father she loves so dearly.

A months-long investigation that uncovers decades-old secrets

Just 40 years old and newly installed as Chief of Station in Rome, Amanda recruits Semonov as an agent. He leads her to expect little, as he has no direct access to the GRU’s secrets. But an unexpected encounter with her father back in Washington triggers a complex and long-lasting investigation that will eventually involve Semonov again in a critical role, lead Amanda to believe that her father is a traitor—and reawaken his memories of a love affair in Helsinki that proved to be much more than an affair.

The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (2023) 364 pages ★★★★★

Photo of a Finnish island in the Baltic Sea like the one in this novel about a Russian walk-in and what he tells the CIA
This Finnish island in the Baltic Sea may look warm and picturesque in this photo. But there’s nothing warm about the island where the scene at the heart of this novel unfolds on a dark and frigid night. Image: Lindblad Expeditions

A devilish Russian scheme to weaken the United States

At the heart of this deeply intriguing novel is a diabolical Russian scheme to undermine the American economy. Amanda receives hints of the scam when her father shares with her a cache of notes Senator Vogel wrote in the course of months of conversations with a Russian oligarch. And it comes to light only because a Russian walk-in to the CIA Station in Rome brings it to light. This scam resembles nothing I’ve come across anywhere else. The Helsinki Affair is worth reading for that alone. Because the scheme seems all too feasible. And—who knows?—may be unfolding in our financial markets as you read these words.

About the author

Photo of Anna Pitoniak, author of this novel that starts with a Russian walk-in
Anna Pitoniak. Image: The Globe and Mail

As she writes on her author website, “Anna Pitoniak is the author of [four novels]. She graduated from Yale, where she majored in English and was an editor at the Yale Daily News. She worked for many years in book publishing, including as a Senior Editor at Random House. Anna grew up in Whistler, British Columbia, and now lives in New York City and East Hampton.”

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