The Vienna Assignment

By Olen Steinhauer

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: Trade Paperback
Release Date: 03 Oct 2005
Imprint: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
ISBN: 978-0-00-721087-9
Price: £11.99, £9.99 (Export Price)
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.

'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

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