Title: The Recruitment
Author: Ronald E. Estes
Publisher: iUniverse
ASIN: ‎ B09SH83SF1
Pages: 108
Genre: Fiction / Thriller / Spy
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

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Today, with smart phones in every hand, computers in homes and offices, cable television spewing news twenty-four hours a day, social media connecting people around the world, drones in the sky, and satellites in space, it’s almost impossible for young people to believe that there was a time when information was eagerly sought but hard to find, and frequently came at disastrous premiums. Those of a certain age, however, can vividly remember a time when the pursuit of secret information was vital for countries’ national security, and those who sought it were depicted as heroes, heroines, patriots or traitors, in movies and novels from famed authors such as John le Carré and Robert Ludlum. It was a time of the Cold War, and https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24419/bread-machine-challah-ii/its last decade is back in Ronald E. Estes novella, The Recruitment.

The story begins in Beirut, Lebanon where CIA plans are made to turn a Soviet KGB diplomat into a double agent. The target is Petrov, a family man whose career has plateaued, much to the chagrin of his father, an ex-KGB operative who hoped his son would rise through the ranks as he had. It is Petrov’s stilted advance, plus his hope that neither Russia or the U. S. would ever come to an actual nuclear conflict, that makes him the perfect mark.

A human asset is used to provide initial input that sets wheels in motion. Once Petrov’s actual residence is uncovered, his phone is tapped and maneuvers are made to install a CIA agent in the apartment opposite. Posing as the wife of a businessman, the agent is able to monitor Petrov’s calls and provide transcripts of them to her superiors. Eventually, after listening devices have also been secretly installed in Petrov’s own apartment, step-by-step procedures are set in motion to make contact and eventually try to turn him. Can the CIA successfully make the Soviet one of their own? At what cost? And if so, what happens if the KGB finds out? Answers are found before story’s end, as well as a surprise readers won’t see coming.

In addition to keeping one guessing about the eventual outcome, author Estes excels at describing surveillance processes and techniques used. Especially as they relate to avoiding detection. His depictions of the clandestine passing of information from one operative to another is done with cinematic impact. Characters are presented as actual human beings, not merely caricatures. At just over a hundred pages, this is a story that can be read in one sitting, but will likely last far longer in one’s memory of cold war chronicles.