The protagonist of this new novel, a sequel to Kenneth Dekleva’s The Negotiator’s Cross, is Jong-un, a gifted violinist from North Korea, whose talents, peripatetic wanderings, and life experiences take him from North Korea to the former Yugoslavia, Austria, Russia, America, India, and South Korea. His gifts and passionate love affairs—with a high-ranking North Korean diplomat’s wife, as well as with a Korean American CIA officer, draw him into a web of espionage, diplomacy, tragedy, and lastly, conversion, as he embraces his faith in God and discovers himself and where he truly belongs. He finds himself at the center of a web of betrayals, with North Korean, South Korean, Russian, and American intelligence agencies, involved in double-dealing, murder, art theft, a hostage trade, and finally, his own defection. Several key characters from The Negotiator’s Cross—a Russian GRU General, a legendary CIA station chief, and Father Ishmael (now the Nuncio in Vienna, Austria) make their appearance in this thrilling novel, which introduces other characters, including a talented CIA officer known as the Musician, a North Korean spy, and a legendary, retired South Korean diplomat; even the late Dear Leader, Chairman Kim Jong-Il, makes a cameo appearance, as does the Dragoman, a character based upon the late great Russian diplomat, Andrei Karlov. Jong-un’s tale leads the listener to a gripping denouement and puts his soul and religious faith at hazard. The novel explores the psychological intricacies of human relationships, betrayals, passions, friendships, religious conversion, and love in a world of espionage and betrayal.


Dr. Kenneth Dekleva is a practicing psychiatrist and former senior US physician-diplomat, who served in Moscow, Vienna, London, Mexico City, and New Delhi, and whose regional diplomatic travels have taken him to over seventy countries. This is his second novel, following The Negotiator’s Cross.