Friday, April 11, 2008

Adrian de Hoog: Canadian diplomat and writer


Adrian de Hoog, former Canadian diplomat with a thirty year career, has written two books: The Berlin Assignment (2006) and Borderless Deceit (2007).

His Novels

It is the turbulent Berlin of the early 1990s which provides the backdrop for de Hoog's first novel, The Berlin Assignment. It is a tale of political intrigue: not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with a new order in full swing, Canada’s new consul Anthony Hanbury arrives to assume his diplomatic duties. He quickly develops contacts, makes friends, and rises in Berlin society. But is his progress as innocent as it seems? Cold War spies still active in the city assemble a dossier, and the suspicions which accumulate soon threaten to destroy the consul.

Adrian de Hoog’s second novel, Borderless Deceit, is more international still. The intrigue spills effortlessly across borders; individual privacy is in short supply. A virus destroys the communication network of the Canadian diplomatic service. Implicated in the investigation are Carson Pryce, a reclusive, moody intelligence analyst, and Rachel Dunn, a brilliant diplomat with a glowing humanitarian track record. Carson for years has been secretly obsessed with Rachel and abuses his privileged access to intelligence information to keep track of Rachel and people around her. He knows things about Rachel which she doesn’t herself. The investigation into the virus deepens and Carson initiates a cover-up to prevent damage to Rachel’s reputation. As events begin to spiral out of control, both are suddenly forced to go into hiding. After separate, roundabout journeys they end up in an isolated villa in Costa Rica.

Adrian de Hoog was born in the Netherlands but he emigrated with his family to Canada (Brandon, Manitoba) in 1957.
He was educated in the universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Oxford and he obtained a D.Phil from the latter in 1974 (in the History and Philosophy of Science). That same year he joined the Canadian Foreign Service.
During his thirty year career working as a diplomat for Canada, he had postings in countries as varied as Kenya and Germany and at various stages of his career contributed to Canada's international interest by working on issues such as development assistance, nuclear non-proliferation, the global environment, and international economic topics pursued in for a such as the OECD and the G 7.
As Canada's Consul-General in Berlin shortly after the Berlin wall came down he witnessed the enormous social, political, economic and cultural changes sweeping over a city which was always restless and a center of change.
De Hoog retired from Foreign Service in 2004 and is now pursuing a career as writer. He lives in Ottawa.

http://www.adriandehoog.com



(Simona Gryllos)