In the Cambodian hinterlands, a lone Western prisoner suffers through a hot, muddy, interminable sentence. Wasted by repeated torture, lack of sleep, malnutrition, and psychotropic drugs, he has been abandoned. His years of exemplary service to his government mean nothing. No one is coming for him.
This is Agent Kasper, a man with a staggering résumé: commercial airline pilot, firearms expert, highly accomplished practitioner of several of the martial arts, a secret agent par excellence. It is this incredible competence that will be his undoing. While investigating Mafia money laundering in Phnom Penh, Kasper is approached by the CIA to track down the source of the so-called supernotes—illegal U.S. banknotes counterfeited so perfectly that they are undetectable, even by sophisticated machines—that are flooding Southeast Asia. With patience, skill, and courage, Kasper uncovers the explosive secret behind them and is badly burned by the truth.
Meanwhile, back in Rome, a sharp, scrappy lawyer named Barbara Belli has been hired by Kasper’s family to work for his release. She has contacts in the foreign ministry, and while officials make sweeping claims about moving heaven and earth, nothing happens. It’s more than just creaking bureaucracy. Kasper has really pissed off the wrong people.
Based on true events in the life of a former spy, Kasper’s journey makes for a shocking and spellbinding page-turner of petty corruption, high-level betrayal, and state secrets so powerful that governments will protect them by any means.
Already a bestseller in Italy and optioned for film, "Supernotes"is a novel based on the true story of Agent Kasper, one of the many aliases of a top-level undercover spy who worked for both the American CIA and the Italian intelligence services. Agent Kasper is a man with a staggering resume: a former police officer, a former airline pilot, a firearms expert, a highly accomplished practitioner of several of the martial arts, and a secret agent par excellence. In the end, his competence is his undoing. While in Phnom Penh, Kasper is approached by the CIA to track down the source of the so-called "supernotes" that are flooding Southeast Asia, illegal U.S. banknotes counterfeited so perfectly as to be undetectable, even by sophisticated machines. With patience, skill, and courage, Kasper discovers the explosive secret: a money-printing operation in North Korea. Kasper tells his handlers what he's discovered, and a few days later a Cambodian associate calls him with a single, urgent message: "Leave town now!" But before he can cross the Thai border, Kasper is arrested, apparently on CIA orders. As Kasper suffers through a brutal incarceration, he tries to figure out why the two governments he so heroically served chose to abandon him."
"A fast, exciting read inspired by a real agent who risked his life combatting the problem of counterfeiting on an international scale."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Provides a fascinating peek behind the curtain of today’s global intelligence community."
—Publishers Weekly
"The main appeal here is the tantalizing premise."
—Booklist
