by OlenSteinhauer (Author)
A powerfully atmospheric thriller set during the Cold War from the internationally acclaimed author of THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS.
Eastern Europe, 1965, and Security Officer Brano Sev, a secretive member of his country's homicide department, has returned home in disgrace from a posting to Austria. As a punishment he is sent to the backwoods village of his birth to interrogate a potential defector - only to find himself framed for murder. Assuming this is part of a covert plan devised by his bosses, he allows himself to be pushed into a dramatic flight to the west and the life of an exile in Vienna, a city teeming with scheming expatriates, spies and old enemies.
But Brano soon finds himself lost in a maze of conflicting interests where love and friendship conceal treachery, and where the Cold War game of bluff and double-bluff leaves him manoeuvring in the dark. And, in the end, he learns that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all.
THE VIENNA ASSIGNMENT is a powerful, atmospheric thriller which perfectly captures the paranoia of Cold War Europe and the terrible dangers facing a man caught up in a game whose rules are constantly changing - with deadly consequences.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Edition: Special Overseas Edition
Publisher: HarperCollins Murder in the city of spies
Published: 03 Oct 2005
ISBN 10: 0007210876
ISBN 13: 9780007210879
Book Overview:
'A powerful, thought-provoking literary thriller in the mould of Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy' Daily Telegraph
`Think of the suspenseful erudition of Alan Furst's thrillers, especially the earlier ones such as The Polish Officer and; of Philip Kerr's eye-opening 'Berlin Noir' trilogy... Steinhauer's debut - the start of a promised series - is right up there on those stellar heights, casting new light on relatively recent history we thought we already knew everything about' Chicago Tribune
`Steinhauer is a welcome addition to the wartime ground mapped out by Philip Kerr and Alan Furst' Guardian
`Brilliant...This powerful novel grips from beginning to end' Sunday Telegraph
`Very well written, full of chilling menace and overall a cracking good story' Publishing News
OLEN STEINHAUER's first two novels, The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, have garnered thus far an Edgar nomination, an Anthony nomination, a Macavity nomination, a Historical Dagger nomination, and rave reviews. Inspired to write his Eastern European series while on a Fullbright Fellowship in Romania, Steinhauer was raised in Texas and now lives in Budapest, Hungary.