A man and a woman meet for a drink in a conveniently empty California cafe. Years before they had been lovers and both involved in spying until an operation went badly wrong. He is still haunted by her memory and preoccupied as to why she left the espionage business following the fiasco. She is now married and out of the game. As their conversation unfolds, we realise both suspect each other of past treason and the game of cat and mouse superimposed over the embers of their romance becomes a compelling X-ray of the past, with level over level of subterfuge unveiled. Short, pithy and compelling, this is a spy thriller like no other and a scalpel-like dissection of a relationship that has you guessing differently with every passing chapter and your sympathy shifting endlessly between the two characters. A melancholy achievement that will leave you gasping until the bittersweet final twist. A total gem. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Celia used to lie for a living. Henry still does. Can they ever trust each other? Six years ago, Henry and Celia were lovers and colleagues, working for the CIA station in Vienna, until terrorists hijacked a plane at the airport. A rescue attempt, staged from the inside, went terribly wrong. Everyone on board was killed. That night has continued to haunt all of those involved; for Henry and Celia, it brought to an end their relationship. Celia decided she'd had enough; she left the agency, married and had children, and is now living an ordinary life in the Californian suburbs. Henry is still a CIA analyst, and has travelled to the US to see her one more time, to relive the past, maybe, or to put it behind him once and for all. But neither of them can forget that question: had their agent been compromised, and how? And each of them also wonders what role their lunch companion might have played in the way things unfolded...All the Old Knives is Olen Steinhauer's most intense, most thrilling and most unsettling novel to date - from the New York Times bestselling author deemed by many to be John le Carre's heir apparent.
'This terrific standalone thriller ... Steinhauer is a very fine writer and an excellent observer of human nature' Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
'Compelling ... Delivers intrigue, suspense, and a heart-stopping finale ... You'll devour it in one night' Booklist (starred review)
'Masterfully plotted ... Even readers well-versed in espionage fiction will be pleasantly surprised by Steinhauer's plot twists and double backs' Kirkus (Starred Review)
'This genre-bending spy novel takes Hitchcockian suspense to new heights' Library Journal (starred review)
Author
About Olen Steinhauer
Olen Steinhauer was born in Virginia and grew up in Texas where he attended the state University in Austin.
He was inspired to write his Eastern European series while on a Fullbright Fellowship in Romania to write about the 1989 revolution.
He moved to New York to sell his book and began the second while in Florence. It was in Budapest, Hungary, that he finished it and still resides.
His 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.
'The Vienna Assignment' was his first novel published with HarperCollins and received excellent hardback reviews in the Guardian and Daily Telegraph.
