In Apparite's first two missions, as documented in Under Cloak of Darkness: The Story of John Apparite, the Superagent caused a lot of damage, but also suffered a lot of damage. Here is a post-mission reckoning:

On the plus side, he beat up seven thugs at Butch's Place; killed nine mobsters and rescued the Hoover photographs at Dolci's; assassinated traitor Robert Kramer; killed Standerton, Nikolai, and two KGB agents, forcing SMERSH agent Viktor out of the country; and planted a false fuel formula which the Soviets began to develop. Not a bad four months' work for a new Superagent.

On the negative side: he was severely wounded in the chest, arm and leg at Dolci's; was wounded in the arm and thigh at the battle in the mews; was near-fatally poisoned on the Queen Elizabeth; and colleagues Clive Hitch and Agent J were killed at the conclusion of his London mission. Oh--and the Director destroyed his 1948 Studebaker while faking Apparite's death. In the end, Apparite lies in bed at the warehouse in D.C., recovering from his poisoning and wondering whether it was all worth it.

His next adventure, A Matter of Revenge, begins in April of 1956 and involves much traveling: to New York, London, the Alsace region of France, and then to Berlin, which was the epicenter of the Cold War. He meets up with some familiar names along the way: Dr. Hoevenaers, the Director, the new liaison (named 'D'), and even, perhaps, the SMERSH assassin Viktor, though I am unwilling to elaborate on this quite yet. He learns more about the enigmatic Director, and also--surprisingly--about his own father, whose burial in the American Cemetery of the Ardennes in Belgium after his death in WWII remains emblematic of the distance that had always been between the two of them.

In April of 1956, though, Apparite is focused on revenge, to the exclusion of all else: revenge for the death of his friend and colleague J; for the murder of MI5 agent Clive Hitch; and for the wounding, at Viktor's hand, of the innocent young man outside the Reading Room who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It becomes an obsession for him; a never-ending frustration for him; and though he longs for the day that he can finally exact vengeance on the SMERSH agent whose face still haunts him, what he finds along the way to an inevitable meeting with the assassin named Viktor is more unexpected and, in some ways, more painful than he might ever have imagined.

But then again, the mightiest of men can be felled by the charms of a woman, and in A Matter of Revenge, Superagent John Apparite, you will find, will be no exception. COMING in September 2008!