Synopsis:
&;This looks like the launch of a great career in spy fiction.&; &;Booklist (starred review)
&;A moody debut spy novel inspired by real events&;Dead-on Cold War fiction. Noir to the bone.&; &;Kirkus Reviews
&;Cold War spy fiction in the grand tradition&;neatly plotted betrayals in that shadow world where no one can be trusted and agents are haunted by their own moral compromises.&; &;Joseph Kanon, New York Times bestselling author of Istanbul Passage and The Good German
Publishers Weekly Top Ten Mysteries & Thrillers of Spring 2016
A debut espionage novel in the style of Alan Furst and John le Carré, An Honorable Man is a chilling Cold War spy thriller set in 1950s Washington, D.C.
Washington D.C., 1953. The Cold War is heating up: McCarthyism, with all its fear and demagoguery, is raging in the nation&;s capital, and Joseph Stalin&;s death has left a dangerous power vacuum in the Soviet Union.
The CIA, meanwhile, is reeling from a double agent within their midst. Someone is selling secrets to the Soviets, compromising missions around the globe. Undercover agents have been assassinated, and anti-Communist plots are being cut short in ruthlessly efficient fashion. The CIA director knows any news of the traitor, whose code name is Protocol, would be a national embarrassment and compromise the entire agency.
George Mueller seems to be the perfect man to help find the mole: Yale-educated; extensive experience running missions in Eastern Europe; an operative so dedicated to his job that it left his marriage in tatters. The Director trusts him. Mueller, though, has secrets of his own, and as he digs deeper into the case, making contact with a Soviet agent, suspicion begins to fall on him as well. Until Protocol is found, no one can be trusted, and everyone is at risk.
Review:
"A cool, knowing, and quietly devastating thriller that vaults Paul Vidich into the ranks of such thinking-man's spy novelists as Joseph Kanon and Alan Furst. Like them, Vidich conjures not only a riveting mystery but a poignant cast of characters, a vibrant evocation of time and place, and a rich excavation of human paradox."--Stephen Schiff, writer and co-executive producer of the hit FX series, THE AMERICANS
"Cold War spy fiction in the grand tradition--neatly plotted betrayals in that shadow world where no one can be trusted and agents are haunted by their own moral compromises."--Joseph Kanon, New York Times bestselling author of Istanbul Passage and The Good German
Paul Vidich's tense, muscular thriller delivers suspense and intelligence circa 1953: Korea, Stalin, the cold war, rage brilliantly, and the hall of mirrors confronting reluctant agent George Mueller reflects myriad questions. Just how personal is the political? Is the past ever past? An Honorable Man asks universal questions whose shadows linger even now. Paul Vidich's immensely assured debut, a requiem to a time, is intensely alive, dark, silken with facts, replete with promise.--Jayne Anne Phillips, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Dell and Machine Dreams
"An Honorable Man is an unputdownable mole hunt written in terse, noirish prose, driving us inexorably forward. In George Mueller, Paul Vidich has created a perfectly stoic companion to guide us through the intrigues of the red-baiting Fifties. And the story itself has the comforting feel of a classic of the genre, rediscovered in some dusty attic, a wonderful gift from the past."--Olen Steinhauer, New York Times bestselling author of ALL THE OLD KNIVES
"An Honorable Man is that rare beast: a good, old fashioned spy novel. But like the best of its kind, it understands that the genre is about something more: betrayal, paranoia, unease, and sacrifice. For a book about the Cold War, it left me with a warm, satisfied glow."--John Connolly, #1 Internationally Bestselling Author of A Song of Shadows
"Paul Vidich is a very strong new voice in spy fiction. The writing is powerful, the setting real, the characters magnetic. Vidich portrays the paranoia of America's anti-communist moment brilliantly, and he captures the grey, gritty realities of counterintelligence. If you love Charles McCarry, read Vidich."--Adam Brookes, Author of Night Heron
"Taut storytelling ... Reminiscent of old-school John Le Carré spy thrillers."--Judith D. Collins Must Reads
"A richly atmospheric and emotionally complex...tale of spies versus spies in the Cold War . . . . Vidich writes with an economy of style that acclaimed espionage novelists might do well to emulate. This looks like the launch of a great career in spy fiction."--Booklist (starred review)
"A moody debut spy novel inspired by real events. . .Dead-on Cold War fiction. Noir to the bone."--Kirkus Reviews
"If you like movies such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Tom Hank's 2015 spy flick A Bridge of Spies, you need to read this book."--The Real Spy Book
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