Publisher's Synopsis
"American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson is a whole lot more than just a spy thriller, wrapping together the ties of family, of love, and of country." Barack Obama
'A spy thriller like you've never read before' TIME
'Timely as it is timeless' Paul Beatty
'A gutsy new thriller' NEW YORK TIMES
'There has never been anything like it' Marlon James
What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love?
It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War. Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant and talented, but she's also a black woman working in an all-white boys' club, and her career has stalled with routine paperwork - until she's recruited to a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention.
In the year that follows, Marie will observe Thomas, seduce him, and ultimately, have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, and a good American.
Inspired by true events, this novel is sweeping historical fiction with an enthralling espionage thriller at its core, and introduces a powerful new literary voice.