wildhart (USA: LA) (2010/02/01): The Spike is a newspaper term for killing a story. That's the meaning of the title. Written in 1980, it's about Robert Hockney. It begins in 1968, where Hockney, a journalism major at Berkley, participates in the antiwar movement. The war at the beginning and throughout the first half of the book being the Vietnam War. He's sent to Saigon to cover the Vietnam War for the New York World--a newspaper that's out of business in real life. Hockney meets Tessa Torrence, an aspiring actress who's like Jane Fonda. Hockney's father is a retired admiral. Hockney himself is 4F, unfit for service, because of a bad knee. His girlfriend, Julia Cummings, is the sister of Perry Cummings, a KGB mole in the Department of Defense. In the second half, Hockney goes around the world trying to uncover a plot by the Soviet Union to bring down the United States. Viktor Borisov, a a KGB agent in Switzerland, defects to the West with his wife and family. Borisov goes to Washington and testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee and names names. Some of them U.S. Senators--others high officials in the new Connor Administration. A Soviet backed coup North Yemen, spreads to Saudi Arabia and brings down the Saudi monarchy. At the end of the book, Connor's new vice president tells him that he won't be running in two years and he will. He also warns the Soviets that they'll face a nuclear attack.
