Hoodwinked by Lowell Green

“Truth is strange… stranger than fiction” reads the footer on the book cover.

Hoodwinked: The Spy Who Didn't Die is the book about one of the most fascinating events in Canadian history, last Century. With all the spies and double-spies crossing the aisle, dying and managing to survive, the story of Igor Gouzenko stays apart among Canadians. Short summary is presented on the memorial plaque placed across the street from the house where Gouzenko lived with his family.

I was working on the story for CHUM TV stations on the controversy about this plaque. Russian authorities publicly protested installation of the memorial plaque across former Gouzenko’s dwelling. We interviewed Gouzenko’s daughter, checked on declassified documents, shot on-cameras in front of the house where Igor Gouzenko lived with his family. When I learned that Lowell Green, my favourite broadcaster, journalist and a book writer, had just published a book on Gouzenko affair, I asked him for a copy, we negotiated a good deal, and I’ve got an autograph as a bonus.

Have I learned anything new from the book? Not really. But as it happened I was not supposed to. The book is a perfect example of a pseudo-historical fiction, filled with fruits of author’s imagination, and some necessary facts added to make the story look half-real. The main character jumps from the plane, saves a beautiful woman, kills numerous enemies, travels across the world, sleeps with more women – typical James Bond story.

If I was into this kind of books, I would have definitely enjoyed it. But I seemed to having been confused by the hard cover. Fiction this time has become stranger than the truth. Buy Hoodwinked: The Spy Who Didn't Die from Amazon.