White Fox

A Novel

By: Owen Matthews

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

A gripping thriller about two competing KGB operatives on a race across Russia and against time to uncover the devastating truth behind the assassination of JFK.

1963. In a desolate Russian penal colony, the radio blares the news of President Kennedy’s death. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin’s new post as director of a gulag camp in the middle of a frozen tundra is far from a promotion. This is where disgraced agents, like Vasin, are sent to disappear and die quietly. But when tensions in the camp mount and a violent revolt breaks out, Vasin finds himself on the run with a mysterious prisoner holding the most dangerous secret in the world: who ordered the murder of President Kennedy.

In a breathless chase that leads them throughout the Soviet Union, from the barren Siberian wastelands, to the stunning halls of the Catherine Palace, and into the gritty streets of Leningrad and Moscow, Vasin must stay one step ahead of the deadliest spy and police organizations in the world, and keep the most wanted man in Russia alive. The journey will push Vasin’s loyalty, morality, and patriotism to the limit, until he faces the ultimate choice: fall in line, or die fighting the system.

With masterly storytelling that weaves together a moment of explosive history with the cutthroat machinations of Soviet politics, Owen Matthews’s White Fox captures the paradigm-shifting assassination from a unique Soviet point of view. This is a gripping thriller across Russia, where characters facing impossible odds are forced to decide among truth, justice, and all-out war.

©2023 Owen Matthews (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The adventure elements of the story, especially the riot and the Siberia trek, are riveting, sort of Brute Force meets The Perfect Storm. A surprising but oddly fitting finale to the saga of a reluctant rebel." --Booklist (starred review)

“Matthews is an excellent storyteller . . . suspenseful and thought provoking.” –New York Journal of Books

"Rattlingly good. . .Matthews has the uncanny ability to transport the reader back in time.” --Daily Herald

Kind of OK compared to the previous books

The previous two books are great – this one clearly had lost inspiration. It is a little bit repetitive, and had some glaring oddities in the plot. However, if you want to go ahead and complete the three series, I would do it. It’s just not as good as the previous works.