Cover photo courtesy of Lucky
Press LLC

The Prophet of Sorrow
Author Mark Van Aken Williams

Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Lucky Press LLC (May 1, 2010)
ISBN-13: 9780984462704

Ohio author Mark Van Aken Williams has written a tense, engaging novella of the assassination of Leon Trotsky, The Prophet of Sorrow. The story is told in a series of journal entries by other characters and in narrative by the assassin himself, Ramon Mercado.

Set against the Spanish Civil War, Mercado and his mother get caught up in the war itself, then get recruited as members of Stalin's notorious spy ring, the GPU (who, in time, will be come the infamous KGB), and are sent to assassinate the exiled Trotsky. Along the way, other characters, the famous and the infamous, join in to add rich flavor and set the story within the time and place of a horrendous time. 

Williams' characters are multi-faceted, coming across as idealistic, jaded, criminalistic. Mercado seems to be caught like the proverbial deer in the headlights as a young man trying to please his mother. He's an easy mark for men already well schooled in the art of mind control. His mother has her reasons for becoming involved but Mercado is an unlikely assassin, only wanting to please her.

There is a sense of true tragedy within the spy game, and reading along is both painful and intriguing. Williams' plot is rich, allowing us to know these people and their motivations. While we may not agree with the ideals, we can certainly understand them. Set within the confines of fiction, the historical perspective reminds us that real people were involved--people that aren't as easily defined as the history books seem to want us to believe.

A page turner that makes you think, reminds us who these people really were, and gives them a voice to tell their side of a dark event in history. Definitely a must read for anyone who enjoys historical or spy thrillers.

The Prophet of Sorrow is available online or can be found at local book sellers such as Waldenbooks off of Nicholasville Road and Barnes & Noble at the Hamburg Pavillion.