The Last Supper, McCarry - B+

                      This is the fifth book in the four decades old series about CIA agent Paul Christopher. On a day in the mid-60's, Paul takes off for Saigon from Paris. His live in girlfriend, Molly Benson, is run down and killed, presumably by the Vietnamese. The book then explores Paul's journey to the agency that his dad had preceded him in. His dad was Yale, and his mother a German Baroness. Paul was born in the early years of the Weimar Republic, grew up Germany and escaped just before the war began. His mother was unable to escape, and died in the camps. Paul's dad, Hubbard, was chief of station in Berlin after the war when he was run down by the Sovs. 

                       When Paul gets to Saigon , he hires a pilot to take him to Hue. The pilot falls asleep with the automatic pilot on, and before Paul knows it, they land in a barrage of bullets, and he is carted away. He is in China and imprisoned for ten years. He confesses to everything he did for the CIA, but continues to plead that he has never spied on the PRC. They eventually let him go. Back in Washington, Paul continues to  ponder some of the dots he connected in prison. He and the CIA chief conclude that an old friend and incredibly successful agent is the reason Paul was betrayed and turned over to the Chinese. The old friend was a Soviet mole for over four decades and behind endless agency failures.

                       I discovered this very old series three + years ago and apparently forgot about it.  I discovered it because of the high praise heaped on the author in his NYT obituary. He was compared to LeCarre.  And in this marvelous novel, he plots a very long story with endless twists and plots that would do the late English master proud.