Description
Review “[A] sneaky little gem . . . Sustains the difficult balancing act of melding a heart-racing espionage plot with credible dinner table conversation . . . Mr. Steinhauer specializes in tough showdowns. And the more innocently they begin, the more devastatingly they end.” ― The New York Times Book Review “A splendid tour de force . . . Without neglecting the turmoil of the geopolitical landscape, the novel focuses more intensely on the equally treacherous landscapes of the human heart.” ― The Washington Post “[A] masterfully plotted and suspenseful stand-alone.” ― Kirkus Reviews (starred review) About the Author Olen Steinhauer is the New York Times bestselling author of the Milo Weaver novels, including The Tourist and An American Spy . He is also a Dashiell Hammett Award winner, a two-time Edgar Award finalist, and has been nominated for the Anthony, Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, Macavity, and Barry awards. He is also the creator of the Epix TV series Berlin Station . He was raised in Virginia, and now divides his time between New York and Budapest.
Features & Highlights
- From Olen Steinhauer, the author of
- New York Times
- bestseller
- The Tourist
- , comes his intimate, most cerebral, and most shocking novel to date,
- All the Old Knives
- ―now a Major Motion Picture Starring Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton.
- Six years ago in Vienna, terrorists took over a hundred hostages, and the rescue attempt went terribly wrong. The CIA's Vienna station was witness to this tragedy, gathering intel from its sources during those tense hours, assimilating facts from the ground and from an agent on the inside. So when it all went wrong, the question had to be asked: Had their agent been compromised, and how?Two of the CIA's case officers in Vienna, Henry Pelham and Celia Harrison, were lovers at the time, and on the night of the hostage crisis Celia decided she'd had enough. She left the agency, married and had children, and is now living an ordinary life in the idyllic town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Henry is still a case officer in Vienna, and has traveled to California 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 long-ago question: Had their agent been compromised? If so, how? Each also wonders what role tonight's dinner companion might have played in the way the tragedy unfolded six years ago.
