"Gripping and authentic...Kanon's imagination flourishes [and] the narrative propulsion is clear. A thoroughly satisfying piece of entertainment that extends a tentacle into some serious moral reflection." --The New York Times Book Review The "master of the genre" (The Washington Post) Joseph Kanon returns with a heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel about a Nazi war criminal who was supposed to be dead, the rogue CIA agent on his trail, and the beautiful woman connected to them both.
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz--nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max's family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina's Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities. With his life nearing its end, Max asks his nephew Aaron Wiley--an American CIA desk analyst--to complete the task Max never could: to track down Otto in Argentina, capture him, and bring him back to Germany to stand trial.
Unable to deny Max, Aaron travels to Buenos Aires and discovers a city where Nazis thrive in plain sight, mingling with Argentine high society. He ingratiates himself with Otto's alluring but wounded daughter, whom he's convinced is hiding her father. Enlisting the help of a German newspaper reporter, an Israeli agent, and the obliging CIA station chief in Buenos Aires, he hunts for Otto--a complicated monster, unexpectedly human but still capable of murder if cornered. Unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron will ultimately have to discover not only Otto, but the boundaries of his own personal morality, how far he is prepared to go to render justice.
"With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Joseph Kanon crafts another compelling and unputdownable thriller that will keep you breathlessly turning the pages.
About the Author :
Joseph Kanon is the Edgar Award-winning author of Los Alamos and nine other novels: The Prodigal Spy, Alibi, Stardust, Istanbul Passage, Leaving Berlin, Defectors, The Accomplice, The Berlin Exchange, and The Good German, which was made into a major motion picture starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Other awards include the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers and the Human Writes Award of the Anne Frank Foundation. He lives in New York City.
Review :
"[Kanon] has an astonishing talent for revealing character, age, type and even appearance through dialogue alone." --Lee Child, The Guardian, Book of the Year
"Buenos Aires in the 1960s, home to remnants of the Third Reich in exile, is brought chillingly to life. . . . an engrossing read." --The Financial Times
"Kanon excels with searching examinations of moral concerns--complicity, guilt, retribution--without ever allowing the pace to flag. The result is that rare thing: an espionage novel which quickens the pulse while providing food for thought." --The Herald
"Kanon is on adventurous form in his ninth novel, with echoes of Hitchcock's Notorious... chilling." --The Times (London)
"Packed with atmosphere and well-developed plot. . . .a splendid, cerebral read, full of moral and emotional depth." --Alexander McCall Smith in the New Statesman
"[A] novel of historical espionage and intrigue." --Wall Street Journal
Praise for The Accomplice
PRAISE FOR THE WORKS OF JOSEPH KANON: "Kanon [is] an intelligent writer who produces satisfyingly plotted novels that appeal to readers with brains." --Philip Kerr, The New York Times Book Review
"Gripping and authentic . . . Kanon's imagination flourishes [and] the narrative propulsion is clear. A thoroughly satisfying piece of entertainment that extends a tentacle into some serious moral reflection." --Joseph Finder in The New York Times Book Review
"Joseph Kanon's thought-provoking, pulse-pounding historical espionage thriller [is] stuffed with incident and surprise. . . . Mr. Kanon, author now of seven top-notch novels of period political intrigue, conveys the bleak, oppressive, and creepy atmosphere of occupied Berlin in a detailed, impressive manner. . . . Leaving Berlin is a mix of tense action sequences, sepia-tinged reminiscence, convincing discourse and Berliner wit." --Wall Street Journal
"With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone, Kanon transcends the form. In its subtly romanticized treatment of compromised lives, this book is even better than his terrific previous effort, Leaving Berlin (2015). A blend of Spy vs. Spy and sibling vs. sibling (not since le Carré's A Perfect Spy has there been a family of spooks to rival this one), Kanon reaffirms his status as one of the very best writers in the genre." --Kirkus (starred review)
