Seven Steps to Treason - Tapa dura

"Michael Hartland joins le Carré and Len Deighton as a master-hand." - BEST SELLERS

"A stunning display of diplomatic and undercover know-how, SAS dare-devilry and global double-cross." - THE SUNDAY TIMES

“Very good Indeed – a cross between le Carre without the longeurs and Adam Hall with intellect.” - THE GUARDIAN

“Skilful pattern of kidnap, blackmail, double and quadruple crossing - a taut tale of treachery.” - PUNCH

“Brilliant tale of espionage - a new master thriller writer.” - WESTERN MORNING NEWS

"Kept me in goggle-eyed amazement... the plot skips around like gunfire on the ricochet." - LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Superior stuff - taut, well observed, original and civilized." - THE TIMES

"The women are not mere decoration; they are at the heart of the action." - THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

"Suspense builds from start to finish... the author will rank alongside le Carré, Deighton, and Follett." - WEST COAST REVIEW OF BOOKS

VIENNA late 1980s - violence is breaking out in strife-torn Poland. A spark that could set the Soviet prison of Eastern Europe ablaze.

There are dangerous Western plans to ensure that the inevitable rising will not be a repeat of Hungary in 1956. In Moscow, faceless men and women know that Bill Cable, after years banished to diplomatic backwaters, is into something big – so big they will destroy him to get it. If they fail, this could mean the end for the Soviet Union. They’ve had a stranglehold on Cable ever since the tragedy, deep in the past, that led to him being kicked out of the Intelligence Service.

Now he is back, as British Ambassador in Vienna. Still compromised but, just to make sure, they kidnap his daughter, Sarah, and threaten her life. Will he betray her – or his country and the freedom of millions?

Before taking up writing, Michael Hartland spent twenty years travelling widely in Europe and the Far East as a diplomat, then working in counter-terrorism and for the United Nations. He draws on this experience to describe the secret world of espionage with insight and great authenticity. His series of five espionage novels published in the 1980s and 90s established him as one of the leading thriller writers in Britain and the United States. They have been translated into twenty-seven European languages and Japanese – and remain among the most iconic, chilling and gripping spy novels ever published. Michael Hartland and his family live in Devon where, after a long gap, he is working on a new project inspired by contemporary Islamic terrorism.