Silver Fox: A Novel

A riotous debut spy comedy that follows an elderly retired CIA operative who has to dust off his skills after spotting his old foe at a party, for fans of Slow Horses and Killers of a Certain Age.

Harvey Fox—eighty-three years-old, widowed, and retired from the CIA—has been thrown out of yet another assisted living facility, this time for sleeping with seven different women (nine if you count nursing staff). With nowhere else to go, he reluctantly moves in with his grown daughter, Nancy. Harvey’s greatest skill as an operative was always his ability to charm anybody, but Nancy is frustratingly immune to his charisma. Meanwhile, he’s been sidelined by his granddaughter in favor of teenage drama and subjected to the company of Nancy’s insufferable Silicon Valley venture capitalist husband.

Feeling out of sorts and in the way, Harvey is planning his next move when his son-in-law invites him to a party with fellow VCs. Harvey is stunned to see a familiar face in the crowd—Dmitri Volkov, the KGB agent who'd nearly killed him half a century ago. What is Volkov doing in California? Why is he rubbing elbows with American tech companies with defense contracts? When the powers that be chalk it all up to a bored old man’s delusions, Harvey realizes that he must run one last covert op. But doing so will dredge up memories of the last time he faced off against Dmitri Volkov. Then he had his youth and the weight of the US government behind him. Now Harvey is all alone and losing this battle could cost more than his life.

Adam Borba delivers a fresh and wholly satisfying spin on the espionage novel: Silver Fox is a bighearted, globe-trotting, action-packed romp that is funny, whip-smart, and an immensely enjoyable read.