Defectors

Defectors is a 2017 spy novel by Joseph Kanon, an American author known for acclaimed espionage fiction including The Good German and Los Alamos. Kanon is recognized for writing literary spy novels set during and after the Cold War.

The story centers on a former CIA officer who visits his brother, a defector to the Soviet Union, in Moscow years after the Second World War. During the visit, he uncovers layers of deception surrounding past intelligence operations and family loyalties in the paranoid atmosphere of Cold War Moscow.

Joseph Kanon's notable works include The Good German, which was adapted into a 2006 film directed by Steven Soderbergh starring George Clooney, as well as Los Alamos, Leaving Berlin, and The Accomplice. His novels consistently blend historical settings with espionage and moral complexity.

Defectors was published in 2017. It continued Kanon's tradition of Cold War-era espionage fiction that explores the personal and moral consequences of defection and intelligence work.