WHITE FOX by Owen Matthews

This review originally appeared in the August 2023 edition of Historical Novels Review.

Former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald emigrated to the Soviet Union in 1959 and lived and worked in Minsk until he returned to the U.S. in June 1962. The possibility that Oswald carried out his assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963 as a Soviet operative is at the center of this suspenseful historical thriller that convincingly demonstrates that nowhere is knowledge more dangerous than in the realms of the post-Stalinist KGB.

When disgraced agent Vasin is exiled to run a Soviet penal colony above the Arctic Circle and takes custody of a prisoner who knows about the hit on Kennedy, he soon finds himself on the frozen tundra, running for his life. The author has a knack for describing the hopeless, desolate land, where in “the deep blackness of the Arctic sky, green wisps of the northern lights flickered like cosmic ghosts.” His portraitures of cunning and ruthless KGB agents, jockeying for position among the most powerful, are chilling. Punchy dialogue and settings in frigid Soviet train stations, sparse hotels, a seedy brothel and worker dachas seem perfect for the chase.

The result is compelling storytelling that merges a thoughtful alternative explanation of a major historical event with fast-paced, immersive action in the shadowy and unforgiving world of Soviet espionage. White Fox is the third book in the author’s Black Sun Trilogy.