The Hunted

June 1, 2009
Based on a true story, this absorbing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Haig (Secret Sanction
and five other books featuring army JAG lawyer Sean Drummond) charts the incredible rise and fall of a Russian multimillionaire. The brilliant, hard-working Alex Konevitch amasses a fortune in the building trades in the early 1990s only to have it stolen by a cabal of KGB men led by the KGB’s deputy director, who not only takes Konevitch’s money and control of his company but also frames him for assorted crimes. Pursued by assassins, Konevitch and his wife go on the run. The couple make their way to America, where they begin to prosper, then fall afoul of a venal FBI director out to enhance his own reputation. The reality aspect of the tale will remind readers of the repressive regime that Russia was and may be again—and of the perfidy of individuals in our own government when greed and ambition are put before democracy and justice.

July 1, 2009
A Russian multimillionaire learns the hard way that rubles aren't everything when KGB thugs go after his pile.

At the age of 22, Alex Konevitch has it made. By dint of being the smartest entrepreneur in a not very entrepreneurial country—perestroika and Russian capitalism are still in their infancy in 1991—he's parlayed his modest start-up funds into a major fortune. They call him"Kid Midas" with good reason, as just about everything he's touched has been transformed into construction-business gold. And his happiness is completed by his fairy-tale bride, lovely, endlessly loyal Elena, a Bolshoi-trained ballerina who's left the world of dance to be by his side. So successful and admired is Alex that it's only a matter of time before greed and envy surface in the monstrous person of Sergei Golitsin, deputy director of the KGB, who never saw the man, woman or child he wouldn't eagerly torture in pursuit of his goals. In short order, he mounts a conspiracy aimed at separating Alex from his millions. Kidnapped and beaten within an inch of his life in the good old KGB way, Alex signs over most of his wealth to the goons and takes off for America. Only there, he reasons, will he be safe from enemies who continue to stalk him for reasons never made entirely clear. At any rate, Alex has guessed wrong about the land of the free. It turns out that goons are goons regardless of nationality, and when they're in high places that spells big-time trouble of a kind few readers will find unpredictable.

Haig (Man in the Middle, 2007, etc.) plots like a dervish but fleshes out his high-profile cast with nothing more than a lick and a promise. The result is a fast-paced, puppet-driven thriller that blows a chance to be first-rate.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2009
Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the brilliant young Alex Kanevich has become a mega-millionaire, but he's made a host of enemies along the way. As a result, he is kidnapped, tortured, and forced to sign over his wealth to ex-KGB thugs. The resourceful Alex and his wife escape and flee to the United States, where they find that the long arm of the old KGB stretches far, as Alex is framed for a host of crimes. VERDICT Based on a true story, this is a fast-paced and well-executed thriller. If there are flaws, it's that the Russian bad guys are so stupid and the American FBI director so venal. Whatever, it's great fun, and the many fans of Haig's Sean Drummond series will find this an exciting, entertaining, and well-written stand-alone diversion. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 4/15/09.]Robert Conroy, Warren, MI

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Haigs new novel, set in Russia and the U.S. in the early 1990s, tells the story of a wealthy Russian banker who, like the real man who inspired the novel, was kidnapped, then escaped and fled to the U.S. Pursued by both the KGB and the FBI, Alex Konevitch must do whatever it takes to protect his family, even if it means sacrificing himself. Haig got immediate attention for his first novel (Secret Sanction, 2001) because of his lineagehes the son of former secretary of state Alexander Haigbut since then, hes proven to be a solid writer of thrillers that mix action and character in roughly equal proportions. Haigs portrayal of Russia around the time of the fall of communism, with its juxtaposition of extreme wealth and abject poverty, will capture the interest of readers who favor thrillers with political overtones. Haig has improved as a writer with every novel, and this one is his most polished. Recommend this one as much for its political and economic insights as for its suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)