The Defection of A.J. Lewinter (Shades of Grey)

A new edition of the spy classic by Robert Littell, New York Times bestselling master of the espionage thriller.

The black comedy follows a pawn in the American military complex whose decision to change sides might determine the outcome of the Cold War.

An engineer who’s spent most of his career studying ceramic nose cones for ballistic missiles, American scientist A.J. Lewinter is used to being a cog in the military-industrial complex—until, while at a conference in Tokyo, he rushes into the Russian Embassy offering to defect.

Hard-edged US intelligence operative Leo Diamond sets out to determine what, if anything, Lewinter knows; on the Soviet side, KGB agent Yefgeny Pogodin must decipher whether this high-level defection is another ruse in a long-standing war. Neither global superpower knows what to expect from Lewinter, the wild card, but both sides know this: If he’s telling the truth, his information could be the final turning point in the Cold War.

A darkly funny spy thriller from one of the most brilliant voices of espionage fiction, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter is a shockingly prescient portrayal of international politics.

Robert Littell is the author of twenty-one other highly acclaimed novels, many about the Cold War and the Soviet Union, including his masterwork, New York Times bestseller The Company, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award winner for best mystery-thriller Legends. An American born in Brooklyn, Robert Littell now lives in France.