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= Message from Málaga = Message from Málaga is a thriller novel written by Helen MacInnes in 1971. The book focuses on the protagonist, Ian Ferrier, and his vacation to the Spanish city of Málaga that quickly turns into an espionage mission with his old friend from the Air Force, Jeff Reid, due to the man's connection to communist defectors and the KGB.

Plot Summary
The novel begins with a beautiful scene in Málaga; Ian Ferrier is on vacation visiting an old Air Force friend, and they share drinks at a Spanish café with live music and dancing. Ferrier's friend, Jeff Reid, who lives in Spain, goes into a back room of the café during one of the performances - he has secret business to deal with. There he meets a defector - and self-proclaimed KGB member - Tomás Fuentes. He wants to defect, and has faked his own death to disappear. Reid is hesitant to help him, but ends up doing so. After this encounter, a man supposedly tracking Fuentes finds Reid in a stairwell and attempts to kill him. Anticipating this, Reid jumps off the side of the staircase and suffers a bad fall.

The next chapter follows Lee Laner, the man who tried to kill Jeff Reid. After his attempt, he returns to the table with his friends - coworkers who are also in Málaga for business. The few of them quickly leave El Fenicio after Laner explains to them what he has done. Laner is to leave the country the next day; he's always having to follow orders.

Ian Ferrier finds Reid in the stairwell, and gets help from Magdalena, Esteban, and Tavita. They keep the fall a secret, and take him to the hospital. Ian makes a mysterious phone call in Reid's place, which leaves him confused and wondering what business is mixed up in all of this. Ferrier goes to Reid's home after the hospital, promising to return the next day with some supplies for the injured man. When Ian gets into the house, he notices one of the house maids, Concepción, sneaking a man into the home. Ferrier wonders if the mysterious man is involved with the strange business going on. As it turns out, the man rushed into the house was Fuentes, the KGB agent Reid is hiding. Tavita comes to the house and tells Ian to come meet her in Granada. Ian plans to do so.

In the meantime, Ian meets with Amanda Ames, another American in Málaga. She gives him some cryptic information about her, and quickly she is off. Ian goes to visit Jeff in the hospital. Jeff is awake, and he asks Ian to take over. He wants him to be his messenger, to go do some of his business for him. Ian begrudgingly agrees. He leaves the room to have a short conversation with Jeff's doctor, and in that short time, a stranger infiltrates Jeff's room and kills him, finishing off the job that Laner failed to do.

Accepting Jeff's final wish to go find Robert O'Connor, Ian makes plans for travel to D.C. and Langley. He plans to pull on his connections until he finds the man, and then he wants to ask him about this Tomás Fuentes. Who is he really? Is he really a KGB defector, or is he infiltrating the operation in Málaga? First, though, he will go to Granada to speak with Tavita.

Tavita and Fuentes are together in Granada, Tavita having smuggled him away from the police the night before. Fuentes, still on edge and fearing Spanish police, forces Tavita to take him to Esteban's safe house. He wants more privacy. Tavita does so.

Ian and Concepción are back at Reid's house, and men have come to get into the house - or to attack Ian. They come and go once, knocking Ian out, and then they return again, with Ian and Concepción watching. This time they will be ready. But instead of the former intruders, Ben Waterman, Ian's coworker and friend, appears in the doorway with two strangers. They converse, and Waterman obviously knows the business Ian has gotten himself into. The other two mysterious men who entered the house with Waterman are none other than Martin, Reid's former Spanish informant, and Bob O'Connor, the exact man Ian was going to America to find. He and O'Connor have a long chat, and Ian informs him of the mysterious Fuentes. They make plans to go to Granada the next day to find out more about Fuentes, then the men leave Ian to sleep.

They go to Granada and find Tavita. Ian talks to her about Reid and calms her nerves. Then O'Connor and Ian go to find Fuentes, and the men have a heated encounter: Fuentes will not reveal his plans to them, and Ian and O'Connor do not have much leverage.

Ian gets an invitation from Amanda Ames, the woman he met the day before at the house, a mysterious spy who was supposedly working with Lucas and Martin. They meet up, and she asks him for help finding out more about Fuentes. Ian pretends he does not know very much and swears to get information for her. They kiss and se leaves him. Secretly, she has planted bugs on him and a couple of other agents. They are both playing the other one.

Tavita has been lying about Fuentes. In the next chapter, the men meet up to continue to discuss plans, and then Ferrier meets with Tavita. She confesses that the man called Fuentes - supposedly her brother's old friend - is not in fact who he says he is. She said she lied about it because he was blackmailing her, and because Esteban, her trusted friend, brought him in. Usually the underground defectors operation was for friends only - but Tavita made the exception for the blackmailer. Waterman and Ferrier have a quick talk about the conversation with Tavita. Is she telling the truth? Why would she lie all this time? The group of men also talk and dismiss the mysterious Amanda Ames, thinking she is no threat to their plans to get Fuentes.

Esteban has involved the Spanish policeman, Rodriguez, because he fears that Fuentes is too much for the operation to handle. Everyone now knows that Fuentes is not who he says he is, and he has fled mysteriously. His cover has been blown, thanks to Tavita, and Ian's work to find out more and more about him.

Ian and Tavita are talking in her home in Granada when men come after them - she's blown Fuentes' cover, and she's to be punished. Ian protects her, along with his friend Waterman, and several others. There is a shootout and a fight; Ian and Tavita's side wins. The men are escorted out. Amanda Ames - who has been wrapped up in this business as well - is mysteriously gone, and Ian asks after her. There is no definite answer.

They are still on the lookout for "Fuentes," and when the cops come for questions, they give them false leads. The espionage is always to be kept secret. Ian tells Tavita that he must return to his traveling and continue on to Italy - his business as a spy has come to an end. Tavita agrees and tells him goodbye. He departs for his next destination.

Characters

 * Ian Ferrier - The main character is a former Air Force veteran, and he works for the American Space Agency. As the novel progresses, he becomes more and more involved in the backroom dealings of the CIA and their Communist defector operation in Málaga.
 * Jeff Reid - Old friend of the main character Ian. He was in the Air Force with him, and when Ian comes to visit Jeff, Jeff's operation is potentially in grave danger. Ian ends up helping Jeff with the operation.
 * Thomás Fuentes - A supposed communist defector from Cuba and member of the KGB.
 * Tavita - Owner and runner of El Fenicio, the café that doubles as a safe house for the clandestine operations of the novel.
 * Lee Laner - A communist agent who attempts to kill Jeff Reid.
 * Captain Rodriguez - Police officer curious about what is going on at El Fenicio.
 * Amanda Ames
 * Gene Lucas
 * Ben Waterman
 * Martin
 * Robert O'Connor

Publication
The book was published in 1971 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, INC. in New York City. The jacket design was done by Paul Bacon, and the author photograph taken by Gilbert Highet. Another edition of the book was released in 2013 by Titan Books under the new ISBN 978-1781163337. The book was a huge hit on the bestsellers list, getting 6th on the New York Times Bestseller list the year it came out. This was one of many popular books by Helen MacInnes. Others include Above Suspicion (1941), The Venetian Affair (1963), and The Salzburg Connection (1968).

Historical Context
The novel came out in 1971, and it was contemporary to its time. Major events going on at the time included the Vietnam war, the Cold War, and Nixon's presidency. During this time, there was a lot of anti-war sentiments among the youth and general population of the United States, including protests and other controversial actions. Nixon, despite these sentiments, did not pull out of Vietnam.

Because the Cold War was going on, fear of the Soviet Union and the KGB was still very prevalent. Though the Vietnam war was huge news, the threat of a nuclear fallout was ever present in the minds of Americans at the time. This is what the novel focuses on, and the plot centers around the big questions of nuclear war, KGB agents, Cuban Communism and Castro, and Americans involved with the espionage of the time.

The Space Race was another, less threatening event of the time, and this is important to the novel considering our main character, Ian, was part of the American Space Agency. His job - and part of the reason he is in Málaga - is this vague yet somewhat interesting job of "tracking." Readers may have been meant to assume that he is in Spain to track the movements of other Spacecrafts trying to launch into the orbit, and to inform the US if anything big launches from Europe. The book is much more character focused than it is on history, but the fear / threat of war with the USSR is present in the novel.