The Vienna Assignment: Murder in the city of spies - Tapa blanda

'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

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.