JON FASMAN

In this taut, atmospheric novel by the author of The New York Times bestseller The Geographeras Library, a young American finds himself adrift in Russia amid murderous bureaucrats, Central Asian mobsters, and a conspiracy to sell Soviet bioweapons to the highest bidder. Jim Vilatzer was going nowhereaworking in his parentsa restaurant, sleeping in his childhood bedroomauntil he ran up gambling debts that forced him to go somewhere far awayafast. He uses his Russian-language skills (learned from his A(c)migrA(c) grandparents) to cadge a job in Moscow finding and interviewing survivors of the Gulag. At first, he only finds that they are well hidden and leery of sharing their horrific stories, but he also discovers that heas falling in love with their homeland. He is intoxicated by Moscowas brooding, ironic atmosphere, its vast reservoir of entrepreneurial energy, its otherworldly churches and majestic subways. On any given day, petty indignities are more than offset by random acts of kindness.

En 1154, à Palerme, un voleur dérobe un sac dans la bibliothèque dal-Idrisi, géographe du roi Roger II de Sicile, parti cartographier des contrées lointaines. Ce méfait contraint son auteur à lexil.

En 1154, à Palerme, un voleur dérobe un sac dans la bibliothèque dal-Idrisi, géographe du roi Roger II de Sicile, parti cartographier des contrées lointaines. Ce méfait contraint son auteur à lexil.

Un joven reportero de provincias se encarga de un triste suceso: la muerte de un antiguo profesor. Paul no sabe qué secretos se ha llevado este hombre a la tumba, muchos menos que se encuentra ante una investigacion que cambiara su vida personal y profesional. Un solido thriller que conduce al lector por los secretos del contrabando internacional y, de alli, a la busqueda de una serie de valiosos objetos robados a un cartografo del siglo XII.

Cub reporter Paul Tomm is working for a local newspaper in a sleepy Connecticut town when he''s asked to write the obituary for an old Estonian history professor. This apparently routine assignment proves to be anything, but when Paul''s investigation uncovers evidence suggesting not only that the professor was not exactly who he claimed to be, but also that his death might have involved a thousand-year-old mystery relating to fifteen arcane objects, once scattered across the globe and now missing. Clues and later threats begin to suggest that the truths Paul has always believed in might prove to be anything but certain. Yet the consequences of letting them go now could put his own life at terrible risk.

Fasman, Jon A reporter stumbles into an ancient treasure hunt in this debut thriller, a historical puzzler in the vein of THE DA VINCI CODE and THE RULE OF FOUR. In 1154, a thief stole a collection of alchemical tools from the library of the geographer of the King of Sicily. The tools were subsequently scattered all over the globe, and as the centuries passed, various people attempted to reassemble the collection. Meanwhile in the present day, Paul Tomm, a young reporter for a small-town Connecticut newspaper, investigates the strange career and mysterious death of an elderly, reclusive professor, in preparation for writing the man's obituary. Gradually, Paul discovers connections between his story and the age-old search for the alchemical tools.

This investigation into the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how the police and justice system use surveillance technology asks the question: what are citizens of a free country willing to tolerate in the name of public safety? As we rethink the scope of police power, Jon Fasmans chilling examination of how the police and the justice system use the unparalleled power of surveillance technologyhow it affects privacy, liberty, and civil rightsbecomes more urgent by the day. Embedding himself within police departments on both coasts, Fasman explores the moral, legal, and political questions posed by these techniques and tools.By zeroing in on how facial recognition, automatic license-plate readers, drones, predictive algorithms, and encryption affect us personally, Fasman vividly illustrates what is at stake and explains how to think through issues of privacy rights, civil liberties, and public safety. How do these technologies impact how police operate in our society? How should archaic privacy laws written for an obsolete erathat of the landline and postboxbe updated?Fasman looks closely at what can happen when surveillance technologies are combined and put in the hands of governments with scant regard for citizens civil liberties, pushing us to ask: Is our democratic culture strong enough to stop us from turning into China, with its architecture of control?

A gripping novel about the dangers and draws of contemporary Russia--from the author of The Geographers LibraryWith The Geographers Library, Jon Fasman made an "inventive and spirited" debut (The New Yorker) that landed him on The New York Times bestseller list. Every bit as dazzling, The Unpossessed City takes readers into the Wild East that is Russia today. There we meet Jim Vilatzer--an American expat whose Russian language skills land him a job interviewing former inmates of the Gulag and ensnare him in a web of deceit involving the CIA, Russias Interior Ministry, and Central Asian arms dealers selling the most dangerous technologies to the highest bidder. From its brooding portrayal of Moscow to its riveting pace, The Unpossessed City is an atmospheric triumph in the tradition of Donna Leons novels of Venice.