Book Review: The Innocents Club

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Innocents Club     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Taylor Smith
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Mira, Sept 2000, $22.95, 384 pp.

CIA analyst Mariah Bolt looked forward to her vacation with her fifteen-year-old daughter Lindsay as an opportunity to heal their estranged relationship. However, just a couple of days before they are to fly to California, Deputy Director of Operations Jack Geist demands she assists the CIA with recruiting the Russian Belenko to work for the agency. Jack believes Belenko has the hots for Mariah, giving her an edge. In turn, Mariah believes Belenko is interested in her as the daughter of the late great author Ben Bolt.

Jack insures that Mariah could not reject the assignment. She leaves two days earlier sans Lindsay to attend “The Last Days of the Romanov Dynasty” exhibit at Los Angeles’ Arlen Hunter museum. There, she meets Renata Hunter Carr, the woman who stole her father from the then seven year old Mariah and her mother. The assignment, the meeting, a professor’s accusations about her father, and her former mentor’s trip to Moscow set in motion a series of betrayals, murder, and kidnapping. It leaves Mariah questioning her values and what she thought was the truth about her heritage.

THE INNOCENTS CLUB is an exciting espionage thriller that builds its tension through real people involved in thirty years old deadly secrets. The story line is exhilarating due to the characters actual feelings so that when events occur, readers understand their motives, actions, and reactions. The story line never slows down and the suspense grows with each succeeding page until the story ends in an explosion of glory. Though the climax is a bit simplistic for such a complex tale, Taylor Smith combines the best of Grisham and Le Carre into a fabulous suspense thriller that is uniquely her own style.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner