Some Underworld Spy
Tool of the Trade
By Joe Haldeman

9 Feb, 2023
Big Hair, Big Guns!
Joe Haldeman’s 1987’s Tool of the Trade is a stand-alone science fiction espionage novel.
MIT psychology Nicholas Foley is a seemingly unremarkable academic. In fact, Foley is remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he is a Soviet sleeper agent. Leningrad-born Nikola Ulinov was infiltrated into the US as a young man. Ulinov, now Foley, has invested decades establishing himself within American academia.
Foley’s casual hobby of lethal vigilantism is less remarkable than how the sleeper agent manages to kill miscreant after miscreant. Foley has the power to compel obedience.