Short Synopsis
Russian agent and criminal Alexei Volkovoy pays an action-packed visit to the United States to uncover secrets of the infamous Venona cables and to attempt to clear his family name.

Full Synopsis
The past erupts into the present when the police arrest Alexei Volkovoy, known as Volk, at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and take him to a murder scene. At first, the dead man appears to be just one more victim of Moscow's out-of-control violence. But Volk soon discovers that he is a famous Hollywood filmmaker whose reputation was destroyed in 1995 when the CIA released decrypted documents from the Venona cables—the top-secret American and British crypto-analysis of Soviet messages that implicated the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, Kim Philby, and hundreds of other Soviet spies. Tucked inside the American's pocket is a marked-up Venona intercept that refers to a Russian used as a spy by the Americans, a man who may have been Volk's illustrious father.

Aided by his female partner, Valya, Volk's only hope to clear his family name will be to solve this murder and discover how the Venona papers relate to his father's disappearance, while powerful forces want to keep him from investigating the past and to remove him from the present.

"The Venona Cable packs more punch than a trunk full of C4.... An intelligently written, pulse-pounding thriller that everyone will be talking about." ---Brad Thor, New York Times bestselling author of The Apostle

"Brent Ghelfi's Volk is back in The Venona Cable, lethal as ever.... This is Volk---damaged, intense, perversely moral---at his compelling best." ---Erik Larson, author of Thunderstruck

"Ghelfi keeps the Cold War hot.... Swift, sharp character descriptions and atmospheric evocations of gray, melancholy Moscow and the seedier streets of Los Angeles add style and color to a delectably complicated plot." ---Kirkus

"Hoye capably reads this riveting, adrenaline-soaked adventure." ---Booklist Audio Review

"Stephen Hoye's vocal agility is impressive.... [he] skillfully builds the tension, making this thriller difficult to turn off." ---AudioFile

"The accolades Ghelfi has received for his Volk novels are well deserved, and this will only add to his acclaim." ---Booklist

"The pace, plot, and dialog are intensely accelerated, yet the intricate emotions and motives evoked in the quest are also deftly folded in by Ghelfi's rare talent. A sure bet for thriller fans." ---Library Journal