First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros: Back Channel by Stephen L. Carter

First Chapter First Paragraph

Every Tuesday, fellow blogger Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.

Back Channel, Stephen L. Carter, historical fiction, political thriller, cold war, cuban missile crisis

I’m about halfway through this historical fiction novel set during the Cuban Missile Crisis and am loving it so far! It’s a departure from Carter’s usual fare…in a great way…and is the female espionage novel I was hoping that Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth would be, but wasn’t.

Plot Summary from Amazon
October 1962. The Soviet Union has smuggled missiles into Cuba. Kennedy and Khrushchev are in the midst of a military face-off that could lead to nuclear conflagration. Warships and submarines are on the move. Planes are in the air. Troops are at the ready. Both leaders are surrounded by advisers clamoring for war. The only way for the two leaders to negotiate safely is to open a “back channel”—a surreptitious path of communication hidden from their own people. They need a clandestine emissary nobody would ever suspect. If the secret gets out, her life will be at risk . . . but they’re careful not to tell her that.

Stephen L. Carter’s gripping new novel, Back Channel, is a brilliant amalgam of fact and fiction—a suspenseful retelling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the fate of the world rests unexpectedly on the shoulders of a young college student.

On the island of Curaçao, a visiting Soviet chess champion whispers state secrets to an American acquaintance.

In the Atlantic Ocean, a freighter struggles through a squall while trying to avoid surveillance.

And in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen, one of the few black women at Cornell, is asked to go to Eastern Europe to babysit a madman.

As the clock ticks toward World War III, Margo undertakes her harrowing journey. Pursued by the hawks on both sides, protected by nothing but her own ingenuity and courage, Margo is drawn ever more deeply into the crossfire—and into her own family’s hidden past.

Here’s the first paragraph of the Prologue:

The President was in one of his moods. He stood at the bedroom window, tugging the lace curtain aside with a finger, peering down onto the East Capital Street. Outside, Washington was dark. He picked up his bourbon, took a long pull, and rubbed at his lower back. Margo sensed that he would rather be pacing, except that he was in too much pain just now; he never complained, but she had spent enough time around him these last few days to tell. All the same, she marveled at the man’s aplomb, given that he was quite possibly presiding over the end of the world.

What do you think? Would you keep reading? Stay tuned for my full review…


Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

11 Comments

  1. This one sounds interesting. I’ve been wanting to read some 60s historical fiction and this sounds like what I’ve been looking for. Saving to my list! Thanks!
    Today I’m featuring The Girl Who Came Home.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  2. I’m so glad to see more books with women in male-dominated fields, like spying, military and government business. It might be called ‘his-story’, but women have been here all along as well. :O)

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  3. Sounds interesting. (I might get the facts confused with the fiction.) I’m glad you are enjoying this so far.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  4. Hmm, I have Sweet Tooth in my tbr pile, but it sounds like this might be even better!

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  5. Dagny wrote:

    Interesting times. Oddly a book I’m reading now, Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich (it was my TT last week at http://wp.me/pZnGI-bM ), features a young Cuban woman who’s father might or might not have been innocently involved in smuggling gold for Castro and a bomb. She’s on the hunt for the sunken gold.

    Mine this week is from a novella by Tolstoy. http://wp.me/pZnGI-ci

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  6. Oh, I remember that time very well…and the feeling that we were at the brink of the world’s end. I definitely would like to read more. Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  7. I haven’t read any recent history historical fiction books and this one is set in a time that really interests me as well, so maybe I should put this one on my pile! Thanks for sharing 🙂 hope you have a great week!
    My Tuesday post
    Juli @ Universe in Words

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  8. The topic is so different from anything I’ve read, but I do like this author, so I’d read more.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  9. Nise' wrote:

    You had me at female espionage! Sounds good.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  10. kelley wrote:

    I’m liking the sound of it. Thanks for sharing. kelley—the road goes ever ever on

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply
  11. I really like the sound of this one. May have to add it to my wish list. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    Posted 9.2.14 Reply

Get Weekly Email Updates!

Join our mailing list to receive all new blog posts in one weekly email. Plus, news of special updates and offers!

You have Successfully Subscribed!