Crook Factory, The [Mass Market Paperback]

In previous novels, Simmons has cast John Keats as an intergalactic emissary (Hyperion) and Mark Twain as an occult adventurer (Fires in Eden). His new excursion in fictional literary biography?and first nonfantasy since Phases of Gravity (1989)?is a gutsy speculation on Ernest Hemingway's exploits in wartime espionage, much of it apparently based on fact. In 1942, Hemingway petitioned the American embassy for help in establishing a counterintelligence outfit he called "The Crook Factory," designed to investigate Nazi activity in his adopted home of Cuba. Joe Lucas, a dedicated if unimaginative young FBI agent, thinks he has been assigned to humor the well-connected writer but soon discovers that Hemingway and his crew of colorful sycophants have stumbled on a Nazi spy nest abuzz with activity. Someone is channeling information through the island's intelligence underground, all of it implicating a host of historical celebrities. The more deeply Hemingway's team probes, the more Lucas is persuaded that the Crook Factory has been deliberately set up as an expendable military subterfuge. As vividly depicted by Simmons, pre-Communist Cuba is an exotic locale whose volatile wartime intrigues are comparable to those of the cinematic Casablanca. It's the perfect milieu for Hemingway, whose larger-than-life evocation must be accounted one of Simmons's sterling literary achievements. The macho figure he cuts here is the stuff of countless Life magazine photos, and his development as Joe's friend and mentor is handled with intelligence and dignity. No one will mistake the novel's immersions in the numbing, repetitive detail of secret service operations for Papa's own concise prose. But the web of conspiracy Simmons spins, the zesty characters it entangles and its intricate cross-weave of fact and fiction distinguish this celebration of the Hemingway centenary.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

This delightfully spry novel offers a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway, who during the 1930s set up a U.S. government-sanctioned intelligence network, a.k.a. the Crook Factory, in Cuba with a cadre of fishing buddies, waiters, prostitutes, and other unlikely operatives to apprehend Nazi infiltrators. Simmons (The Rise of Endymion, LJ 9/15/97) very cleverly takes one of the actual players, remembered only as Lucas, and morphs him into Joe Lucas, an FBI agent sent by J. Edgar Hoover to keep tabs on Ernesto. The plot quickly evolves into a real page-turning espionage story, complete with corrupt police officials, double agents, secret codes, and multiple murders. Without falling into hero worship, Simmons offers one of the best fictional portraits of Hemingway available. The writer is intelligent and tough but at the same time a hotheaded and reckless amateur. Though Hemingway is the hook, this would be an equally intriguing story without him. Fun reading for both Hemingway aficionados and spy novel enthusiasts.
-?Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Filled with crackerjack writing, a page-turning plot,and characters who will haunt the reader long after the book is finished...Simmons does an incredible job." -- San Antonio Express-News

A first-rate espionage thriller...This latest novel can do nothing but enhance Simmons'salready considerable reputation as a storyteller. -- -- Denver Rocky Mountain News

A remarkable book...The stand-out thriller of the year. -- -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Wonderful...brilliantly realized...a gripping narrative."Iain Pears, New York Times bestselling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost

At the height of World War Two, the famous writer ErnestHemingway sought permission from the U.S. government to operate a spy ring out of his house in the Cuban countryside.This much is true...

It is the summer of '42, and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover to keep an eye on Hemingway.The great writer has assembled a ragtag spy ring that he calls the“Crook Factory” to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage.But then Lucas and Hemingway, against all the odds, uncovera critical piece of intelligence--and the game turns deadly.In The Crook Factory, award-winning author Dan Simmonsexpands a little-known fact into a tour de force of gripping historicalsuspense set in the sensual Cuban landscape of the early 1940s.

In 1942, at the height of World War II, Ernest Hemingway sought permission form J. Edgar Hoover to operate a spy ring out of his ranch in Cuba. This much is true...

In a beautifully realized work of fierce originality, award-winning author DAN SIMMONS expands a little-known fact into a tour de force of historical suspense.

It is the summer of '42, and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of the Director to keep an eye on Ernest Hemingway, who has recklessly decided to play spy in the Caribbean. Lucas has been instructed to somehow gain the great writer's trust and friendship, but all the agent's cool intellect and training has left him unprepared to withstand the human whirlwind known as "Papa."

Hemingway has assembled a spy ring that he calls the "Crook Factory"--including an American millionaire, a twelve-year-old Cuban orphan, a Spanish jai alai champion, a priest, and a fisherman, among others--to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. Then, against all odds, Hemingway uncovers a critical piece of intelligence, and the game turns deadly for himself, Lucas, and for untold innocents.

In THE CROOK FACTORY, Dan Simmons weaves an unforgettable tale of riveting suspense, peopled by larger-than-life characters who inhabit the sensual, intoxicating Cuban landscape of the 1940s. It is a novel of honor, passion and chilling conspiracy.

And it could very well have happened...In 1942, at the height of World War II, Ernest Hemingway sought permission form J. Edgar Hoover to operate a spy ring out of his ranch in Cuba. This much is true...

In a beautifully realized work of fierce originality, award-winning author DAN SIMMONS expands a little-known fact into a tour de force of historical suspense.

It is the summer of '42, and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of the Director to keep an eye on Ernest Hemingway, who has recklessly decided to play spy in the Caribbean. Lucas has been instructed to somehow gain the great writer's trust and friendship, but all the agent's cool intellect and training has left him unprepared to withstand the human whirlwind known as "Papa."

Hemingway has assembled a spy ring that he calls the "Crook Factory"--including an American millionaire, a twelve-year-old Cuban orphan, a Spanish jai alai champion, a priest, and a fisherman, among others--to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. Then, against all odds, Hemingway uncovers a critical piece of intelligence, and the game turns deadly for himself, Lucas, and for untold innocents.

In THE CROOK FACTORY, Dan Simmons weaves an unforgettable tale of riveting suspense, peopled by larger-than-life characters who inhabit the sensual, intoxicating Cuban landscape of the 1940s. It is a novel of honor, passion and chilling conspiracy.

And it could very well have happened...

Dan Simmons is the Hugo Award-winning author of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion and their sequels, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. He has written the critically acclaimed suspense novels Darwin’s Blade and The Crook Factory, as well as other highly respected works including Summer of Night, its sequel A Winter Haunting, andSong of Kali, Carrion Comfort, and Worlds Enough & Time. Simmons makes his home in Colorado.