Staff Picks Blog

I just finished reading I. Michael Koontz’ debut spy-thriller novel and loved it.  The story follows Super-agent John Apparite and Cold War espionage of the mid 1950′s.  Koontz weaves his personal interest and years of research about espionage, the Cold War, "good" beer, and baseball into an fast-moving story.  The sequel, A Matter of Revenge, is due out in late 2007 or 2008.  

My family recently visited the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.  Through wonderful displays and hands-on activities we learned a lot about spy history, techniques, and tools of the trade.  My son’s favorite activity was crawling around in the duct-work to spy on me.  One of my favorite displays was about bugs used to spy on conversations.  Apparite’s use of bugs in the book reminded me of this display.

I went to high school with Koontz and remember him as a funny, smart and intelligent guy with a variety of interests.  Espionage thrillers aren’t usually my cup of tea but I wanted to give it a try because I was curious about Koontz’ writing.  I was very pleasantly surprised and look forward to the sequel.  It was also fun to visit Koontz’ webpage at www.imkoontz.com/ and learn more about his interests, research, and favorite pubs in London.  ~~ Cheers ~~