Book review: The Decoy – Nina Palester is a graduate student studying computer science at McGill University, living in an apartment within the nearby McGill Ghetto area, and enjoying the life of a typical university student, from the usual schedule of classes, to the endless studying, and even the occasional social 5a7 gathering.
That’s what it looks like on the surface to anyone who encounters Nina, unaware that there is something more devious lying underneath her life as a student at McGill.
That undercover reality is that Nina Palester’s actual name is Ekaterina Yegorova, and was born in Russia to parents whom she never knew. Raised in an orphanage in her early years, Ekaterina/Nina was adopted by a couple named Irina and Dmitry (aka Marie and Jerome Palester) at the age of 11. And because of her natural skills in sports and mathematics, was selected to be trained as a spy for the Russians through their Illegals Program, which Irina and Dmitry worked as supervisors, and operated a base for other Illegals who were also training to be spies, in which the U.S. would be their home base once they successfully completed the program.
The Palesters were eventually sent to Quebec as their base of operations, with Marie and Jerome running an independent real estate company in the South Shore suburb of St. Lambert as their front. It is during her time at McGill that Nina/Ekaterina is sent to carry out an important mission on behalf of Mother Russia. Using the cover as a yoga instructor, she is sent to infiltrate the upcoming G7 Summit at a luxury resort in Charlevoix, just outside Quebec City; her assigned mission during the summit will involve intrigue, obtaining damaging unearthed personal information, and the President of the United States.
This is the premise of The Decoy, a spy thriller novel written by longtime Montreal lawyer Chloe Archambault.
“I practiced law for 25 years, and worked at a number of large law firms, which left me very little time for anything else,” said Ms. Archambault during a recent phone interview. “And after a while, I seriously thought to myself ‘do I really want my life to be only that?’ That’s when I started thinking about trying something else.”
That something else was to become a novelist, in particular a writer of spy novels. Ms. Archambault admits that it’s her favourite genre of fiction, and is a big fan of the late British spy novelist John Le Carre, the James Bond movies and the cable TV spy series The Americans. “I like spy novels because the story creates itself,” she said. “What I like about writing a spy novel is the unexplained way the story pops into your head, and how little control you have over the ideas when it does enter your head. It’s like you are imagining the stories, and are forced to put it on paper. It’s not a conscious choice; it just happens that way.”
“And the spy thriller has one interesting aspect. It takes you to exciting places around the world like Berlin, Paris and Istanbul. The reason I chose to have The Decoy take place in Montreal is that it’s a unique place. There is no other place like it in the world, because it’s eccentric enough to have enemy spies lurking around its streets,” she added.
However, Ms. Archambault is adamant that although The Decoy takes place in Montreal, it should not be regarded as a local story. “I don’t really think that Montreal is or was at any time ‘spy central’ but our city’s history is interesting enough that it is possible to create good fiction out of certain past events and weave it into a story,” she said. “The Decoy is not a reflection of my beliefs or my opinions about Montreal being a hot bed for spies, about Russia and what it is up to, or about the current events in which it plays a role. All of it, as used in the book, is pure fiction.”
As for the main character Nina/Ekaterina, Ms. Archambault believes that she is a rather reluctant spy who spent her life so far living two lives, and having every aspect of that double life controlled by a small cadre of people, and that her ultimate goal is to break free from that double life. “Nina is a character who is very intelligent and has a goal based on the personal quest for emancipation,” she said. “Imagine what it’s like to be indoctrinated towards another way of living and you’re torn between these two lives. That is her inner conflict.”
So far, the reaction for The Decoy has been strongly positive since it was officially launched on Amazon this past January. Ms. Archambault has been offered representation by a major literary agency, and she is currently writing a sequel to the book. However, she wants to point out that while writing The Decoy, she approached it as carefully as she could by combining real facts with fiction, so that she didn’t include any factual premise that she wasn’t familiar with, in order to create a good story for the readers.
“What I did in The Decoy was to use current events about Russia, in addition to certain historical facts, to create a story that takes place in Montreal which I hope is believable and fun to read,” she said. “What I believe about Russia is irrelevant. What matters is that I thought there was enough material out there about Russia to use for a good story.”
The Decoy marks a fine literary debut for Chloe Archambault. It’s an enjoyable, meticulous spy thriller that contains all the necessary elements for a novel of that genre requires: deep intelligence, deception, secrets, cloak & dagger, and a surprising plot twist or two. Nina Palester makes for a credible anti-hero who performs her spying duties for the motherland, yet casts doubts about the reason and legitimacy for such a high-level mission. It’s an ideal beach read for this summer that will have you sitting on the edge of your patio chair (or beach towel). Welcome to the world of spy novels, Ms. Archambault!
The Decoy is available for purchase through Amazon in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Australia and the U.K.
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