2 out of 4 stars
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Official Review: The Spy, the Renegade, the Rogue by Robert de Casares
The Spy, the Renegade, the Rogue by Robert de Casares is, as the title clearly conveys, a spy novel. But what sets this novel apart from others in the genre? The fact that it is based on a true story – the author, de Casares, had a past career in the secret services. He was a government agent – a spy, if you will – and so his novel is written from the unique perspective of insider knowledge rather than just research. Comparisons with James Bond, however, would leave you finding this spy novel much more realistic, if less exciting. Although all character names, events depicted, and even some organization names are fictional, the book reads more like a memoir than a spy novel.
The story begins at the end, with Den (full name Dennis Petrovich) recording the events of his life in a series of letters. These letters are mailed to his lawyer in confidence, to be released to the general public in the event of his death, which he expects will occur soon. Then, back to the beginning. Den introduces himself to the reader as a “professional intelligence officer” or spy for the KGB. The setting is the Cold War, the year unspecified, but in the late 1980s. The Soviet Union teeters on the brink of collapse. The KGB is desperate for ways and means to save their crumbling republic. Den is offered an exciting and dangerous opportunity – to infiltrate the British Secret Intelligence Service as a double agent. Cherishing duty and intrigue about all, he agrees, even with the knowledge that it will likely cost him his marriage and any opportunity to be a part of his son's life. His family will be told nothing of his true work, and he will have to leave them behind to assume the worst about him. But, as Den says,
To add fuel to the fire, the KGB tells Den that they will keep no record of his undercover assignment – if he blows it, they will deny all knowledge of him, and he will be left to try to save his own skin. The stage is set, the players in place, but then comes the unexpected and shocking collapse of the USSR in 1991. Den is left in the cold, grasping at what to do with his life in a country that is not home, without family, and working for a Crown that he has come to respect, even while he himself is unsure what side he is actually on – his former KGB bosses made no attempt to extricate him or help him after the collapse of their government. Den is determined that he will survive and take revenge on those who left him in the cold, but there are many questions to answer. How will he rebuild his life? Can he definitively choose a side? Will his estranged wife and son ever know the truth of his actions? Can the things he does be justified, regardless of the means? You'll have to read the book to find out!“Once you taste operational work [spying], everything else seems boring and bland, flavourless.” (pg. 75).
I found the premise of The Spy, The Renegade, The Rogue to be highly intriguing. It was interesting to learn some of the terminology the spies used, such as “trade craft” to mean spy craft, “dry cleaning” to describe the process by which a spy would take a long, meandering route to find out if anyone was tailing (following) him (and to lose the “tail”), and words games, such as “I will call again at 3 o'clock,” to indicate something totally different, such as a meeting in two days. Den had to be a flawless actor, because to be found out could mean death. Going straight from an emotional situation at home and then into a meeting as a double agent required Den to sometimes nearly switch off parts of his mind. I appreciated how de Casares included this realism in his book – it was thought-provoking rather than just entertaining.
When I read a spy novel, I expect fast-paced action and suspense. Unfortunately, The Spy, The Renegade, The Rogue moved at a slowly-plodding pace. The events depicted were described in a detached sort of manner, too often in the past tense. The storyline itself seemed secondary to the heavy peppering of variations on the theme: that the end justifies the means, that high motives cancel out dirty deeds, and that everything Den did, he tried to do for the greater good. De Casares' writing sometimes came across as a vehicle to get things off of his chest and justify his own actions as a secret agent. The story too often felt like a monotonous recitation of past events with too many trivial details such as precise dates and times, the history of various intelligence agencies, and the abbreviations used to indicate various subcommittees within these agencies. Throughout the book I often felt that there was not enough emotion conveyed to make the reader actually care about the characters. Character development was lacking and sometimes non-existent, leaving the reader with many names but vague or no description of personality and appearance to go with them. I found portions of the writing too pedantic to hold wider appeal; de Casares sometimes seemed to focus on displaying his broad vocabulary and knowledge of Latin, French, and Spanish to the expense of the story.
De Casares' novel is refreshingly free of typos or grammar errors, suggesting professional proofreading. Unfortunately, mechanical errors abound, most notably page numbers interspersed in the middle of sentences, and extra spacing between sentences which should be in the same paragraph. These mechanical errors are hopefully only a problem in the formatting of the advance reading copy and not the final draft.
The Spy, The Renegade, The Rogue had an intriguing premise and provided an inside look into the mind and world of professional spies. It could have been a much more interesting read, however, if more attention was given to character development, painting the scenes with more detail and emotion, and showing the story play out instead of simply telling it as a sometimes-dry recitation of facts. Mechanical errors were distracting, although the book was free of grammar errors and typos. The ending seemed vague and inconclusive, although that may have been done purposefully, to leave the reader to draw their own conclusions. Too many trivial details and a great deal of moralizing, or repeated attempts to explain that the character felt the end justified the means, detracted from the story itself. As such, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. Since this was de Casares' first novel, I am confident that his novels will only improve from here. For those looking for a fast-paced action novel, The Spy, The Renegade, The Rogue won't fit that bill, but it will appeal to history lovers, those interested in learning more about the Cold War, anyone who enjoys reading memoirs, and readers who don't mind a more contemplative pace to a spy novel.
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The Spy, the Renegade, the Rogue
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The "real" version was still interesting though! Thanks for taking time to comment, Browncoat. Stay shiny. 
