The Works of

Taylor Smith

The Innocents Club

The Innocents Club - Published 2000 by Mira Books (377 pages - hardcover)

ISBN 1-55166-544-1

The sequel to the famously popular Guilt by Silence, Smith once again dazzles the reader with an intriguing story, suspenseful twists and uncommon insights into the workings of government agencies.

Returning to the characters first introduced in Guilt by Silence, Smith has the opportunity to flesh out the backgrounds, histories, goals, aspirations and fears of each.

With a fascinating background in politics and diplomatic relations, Taylor Smith writes fast-paced, gripping fiction that has been praised for its compelling elements of suspense.

Reviews

Publisher's Weekly
Review of THE INNOCENTS CLUB
August 21, 2000

Picking up where 1995's Guilt by Silence left off, Smith's latest is a graceful, compellingly written thriller about how Cold War secrets-and great literary figures-never really die. At the center of the plot is Mariah Bolt, a senior CIA analyst who reluctantly agrees to travel to Los Angeles to convince a Russian diplomat to become a double agent.

Mariah, daughter of the late great American author Benjamin Bolt, figures she'll combine the work trip with a visit to her father's literary agent, who's been analyzing an unpublished manuscript that Mariah discovered some months earlier after her home was flooded, and that appears to be her father's work. Less than 24 hours after her arrival in LA, however, Mariah's life gets much more complicated. The diplomat is found dead in his hot tub, shortly after he informs Mariah that rumors have surfaced that her father didn't succumb to hepatitis 30 years ago in Paris, as was believed, but was murdered. Worse, the manuscript that bears Bolt's name may actually be a samizdat novel by a Russian author who died about the same time as Mariah's father. The past keeps coming back to haunt Mariah as the death count rises and old ghosts emerge. Fortunately, Mariah's old friend and CIA mentor, Frank Tucker, is protecting her flank as she battles former KGB operatives, Russian mobsters and their American allies. Smith's gloriously intricate plot is top-notch, and her writing, though breathy in spots, is that of a gifted story teller. Mariah may be a familiar heroine-single mom, conflicted over professional and family issues-but she's also a sly operator with a sharp tongue, a keen wit, and a well-honed sense of how to swim with the sharks.

Amazon.com
Review of THE INNOCENTS CLUB
September, 2000

Heavily touted as a would-be bestseller, The Innocents Club has a lot going for it. There's a smart, sexy heroine, Mariah Bolt, whose unhappy childhood as the abandoned daughter of a famous writer revered by millions (including the Russian people) hasn't stopped her from moving right along in her career as a CIA analyst. There's Los Angeles society matron Renata Hunter, who stole Ben Bolt away from his family and then left him to die in penury. She now guards the legacy of her own father, a multimillionaire industrialist whose ties to the Soviet Union are legendary (think Armand Hammer). There's Paul Chaney, a slick, ambitious newscaster (think Peter Jennings) who has designs on Mariah, as well as a secret connection with Renata. And there's Frank Tucker, a CIA agent who's been buried in the dead document basement since Jack Geist, his nemesis in the agency, clawed his way to the top of the intelligence bureaucracy. Finally, there's a famous, revered, conveniently dead Russian literary lion (think Chekhov) who may have smuggled a manuscript to the late Ben Bolt, pages the Soviet bureaucracy couldn't afford to have published, then or now. It all comes together in Southern California, where a world conference featuring a Russian prime minister desperately trying to retain his power is the setting for a clever novel about revenge, betrayal, and intrigue. Readers of Taylor Smith's first novel, Guilt by Silence, will be delighted to encounter Mariah Bolt again. New readers are in for a well-plotted, fast-paced thriller that provides a nice twist on international intrigue. Mariah's efforts to come to terms with the father she barely knew provide a window into her interior life, and her growing realization about her feelings for Frank Tucker add just enough romance to season the mix. This may be one of those instances where the advance hype for a book is merited. --Jane Adams

Harriet Klausner
Review of THE INNOCENTS CLUB
September 2000

CIA analyst Mariah Bolt looked forward to her vacation with her fifteen-year-old daughter Lindsay as an opportunity to heal their estranged relationship. However, just a couple of days before they are to fly to California, Deputy Director of Operations Jack Geist demands she assists the CIA with recruiting the Russian Belenko to work for the agency. Jack believes Belenko has the hots for Mariah, giving her an edge. In turn, Mariah believes Belenko is interested in her as the daughter of the late great author Ben Bolt.

Jack insures that Mariah could not reject the assignment. She leaves two days earlier sans Lindsay to attend "The Last Days of the Romanov Dynasty" exhibit at Los Angeles' Arlen Hunter museum. There, she meets Renata Hunter Carr, the woman who stole her father from the then seven year old Mariah and her mother. The assignment, the meeting, a professor's accusations about her father, and her former mentor's trip to Moscow set in motion a series of betrayals, murder, and kidnapping. It leaves Mariah questioning her values and what she thought was the truth about her heritage.

THE INNOCENTS CLUB is an exciting espionage thriller that builds its tension through real people involved in thirty years old deadly secrets. The story line is exhilarating due to the characters actual feelings so that when events occur, readers understand their motives, actions, and reactions. The story line never slows down and the suspense grows with each succeeding page until the story ends in an explosion of glory. Though the climax is a bit simplistic for such a complex tale, Taylor Smith combines the best of Grisham and Le Carre into a fabulous suspense thriller that is uniquely her own style.

Alternate Editions

Published November 2001 by Mira Books (Paperback)

Order The Innocents Club, published by Mira Books ISBN 1-55166-544-1 from

In Canada The Innocents Club, published by Mira Books ISBN 1-55166-544-1 is available through .