Joseph Kanon

Istanbul survived the Second World War as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even expatriate American Leon Bauer was drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs in support of the Allied war effort. Now as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of postwar life, Leon is given one last routine assignment. But when the job goes fatally wrongan exchange of gunfire, a body left in the street, and a potential war criminal on his hands Leon is trapped in a tangle of shifting loyalties and moral uncertainty.Played out against the bazaars and mosques and faded mansions of this knowing, ancient Ottoman city, Istanbul Passage is the unforgettable story of a man swept up in the dawn of the Cold War, of an unexpected love affair, and of a city as deceptive as the calm surface waters of the Bosphorus that divides it.

How do you do the right thing when there are only bad choices to be made? A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul survived WW2 as a magnet for refugees and spies, trafficking in secrets and lies rather than soldiers. Expatriate American businessman Leon Bauer was drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs in support of the Allied war effort. Now as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of postwar life, Leon is given one last routine assignment. But when the job goes fatally wrong - an exchange of gunfire, a body left in the street, and a potential war criminal in his hands - Leon is plunged into a nightmarish tangle of intrigue, shifting loyalties and moral uncertainty. Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Istanbul Passage is the story of a man swept up in the dawn of the Cold War, of an unexpected love affair, and of a city as deceptive as the calm surface waters of the Bosphorus that divides it.

From the author of The Good German (made in a film starring George Clooney) comes a sweeping novel set in post-war Berlin. Alex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. But the politics of his youth have now put him in the crosshairs of the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and the loss of his family, he makes a desperate bargain with the fledgling CIA: he will earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin. But almost from the start things go fatally wrong. Filled with intrigue and the moral ambiguity of conflicted loyalties, Leaving Berlin is a masterfu thriller and a love story that brings a shadowy period of history vividly to life.

Jake Geismar cut his teeth as a foreign correspondent in pre-war Berlin. When he returns in 1945 to cover the Potsdam conference he finds the city unrecognisable - streets have vanished beneath the rubble, familiar landmarks truncated by high explosive. But amongst the ruins Berliners survive, including some he knew and, miraculously, his lost love, Lena. But in the way she would not leave with him before the war, Lena won''t join him now without finding her husband and Emil has disappeared from the safe care of the Americans who, turning a blind eye to his links with Hitler, want his expertise as a rocket designer for themselves. Trawling through the shambles of the city, through the illegal night clubs and the thriving black market, Jake discovers that the twilight war of intrigue between west and east has already begun and that he could quite easily be one of its first casualties. This is a novel of war, an action thriller, a tale of raw emotion and survival. Above all it is a tour de force of the triumph of humanity over man''s depravity.

THE EXPLOSIVE NEW THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LEAVING BERLIN Some secrets should never be told. Moscow, 1961: With the launch of Sputnik, the Soviet Union's international prestige is at an all-time high. And the most notorious of the defectors to the Soviet Union, former CIA agent Frank Weeks, is about to publish his memoirs. What he reveals will send shock waves through the West. Weeks' defection in the early 1950s shook Washington to its core - and forced the resignation of his brother, Simon, from the State Department. Simon, now a publisher in New York, is given the opportunity to read and publish his brother's memoir. He knows the US government will never approve the publication of what is clearly intended as KGB propaganda. Yet the offer is irresistible: it will finally give him the chance to learn why his brother chose to betray his country.But what he discovers in Moscow is far more shocking than he ever imagined ... 'One of the most exciting books I've read in years' Alexander McCall Smith on Leaving Berlin 'Spectacular in every way' Lee Child on Stardust 'Tense and atmospheric, with sinister intrigue' Wall Street Journal on Istanbul Passage

From the authors of the bestselling DRAGON REALM books comes the second in an edge of your seat dragon obsessed series for 8 readers Get ready to join the DRAGON FORCE

Printemps 1961 : Simon, venu des Etats-Unis, atterrit à Moscou, pour retrouver son frère Frank quil na pas vu depuis douze ans. Celui-ci a rejoint par conviction les services secrets soviétiques aprè

" La complexité et la lucidité de le Carré et de Greene, et aussi dOrwell. "New York TimesBerlin-Est en 1949, sous occupation soviétique. Avant la guerre, Alex Meier, écrivain juif communiste, a quitte la ville pour se refugier aux Etats-Unis. Maintenant, victime de la chasse aux sorcieres, le voila de retour, accueilli a bras ouverts par le nouveau regime en meme temps quun refugie celebre, Bertolt Brecht. Dans un decor de ruines et une atmosphere deletere, Alex retrouve son amour de jeunesse, une aristocrate allemande devenue la maitresse dun dignitaire russe. Les circonstances de leurs vies respectives lui a laisse en Amerique un fils quil veut revoir un jour, elle cache un frere echappe des camps de travail force contraignent Alex a simproviser espion, metier pour lequel il nest pas prepare. La reflexion sur les dangers de lidealisme aveugle et une intrigue diabolique font de Berlin 49 un thriller magistral, ou le suspense se nourrit de retournements a couper le souffle.Ne aux Etats-Unis en 1946, diplome de Harvard, Joseph Kanon a ete editeur avant de se lancer dans lecriture. Il est lauteur de six romans, dont LAmi allemand, adapte au cinema par Steven Soderbergh avec George Clooney et Cate Blanchett, et Le Passager dIstanbul (Seuil, 2014).Traduit de langlais (Etats-Unis) par Lazare Bitoun

" La complexité et la lucidité de le Carré et de Greene, et aussi dOrwell. "New York TimesBerlin-Est en 1949, sous occupation soviétique. Avant la guerre, Alex Meier, écrivain juif communiste, a quitte la ville pour se refugier aux Etats-Unis. Maintenant, victime de la chasse aux sorcieres, le voila de retour, accueilli a bras ouverts par le nouveau regime en meme temps quun refugie celebre, Bertolt Brecht. Dans un decor de ruines et une atmosphere deletere, Alex retrouve son amour de jeunesse, une aristocrate allemande devenue la maitresse dun dignitaire russe. Les circonstances de leurs vies respectives lui a laisse en Amerique un fils quil veut revoir un jour, elle cache un frere echappe des camps de travail force contraignent Alex a simproviser espion, metier pour lequel il nest pas prepare. La reflexion sur les dangers de lidealisme aveugle et une intrigue diabolique font de Berlin 49 un thriller magistral, ou le suspense se nourrit de retournements a couper le souffle.Ne aux Etats-Unis en 1946, diplome de Harvard, Joseph Kanon a ete editeur avant de se lancer dans lecriture. Il est lauteur de six romans, dont LAmi allemand, adapte au cinema par Steven Soderbergh avec George Clooney et Cate Blanchett, et Le Passager dIstanbul (Seuil, 2014).Traduit de langlais (Etats-Unis) par Lazare Bitoun

Printemps 1961 : Simon, venu des Etats-Unis, atterrit à Moscou, pour retrouver son frère Frank quil na pas vu depuis douze ans. Celui-ci a rejoint par conviction les services secrets soviétiques aprè

Moscow, the Cold War, 1961. Stalin has been dead for eight years. With the launch of Sputnik, the Soviet Union's international prestige is at an all-time high. Former CIA agent Francis 'Frank' Weeks, the most notorious of the defectors to the Soviet Union, is about to publish his memoirs, and what he reveals is reportedly going to send shock waves through the West. Weeks' defection in the early 1950s shook Washington to its core - his betrayal rippled through the State Department, prompting frantic searches for moles and forcing the resignation of Simon, Frank's brother and best friend. So when a Soviet agency approaches Simon, now a publisher in New York City, with a controversial proposition to publish his brother's memoirs, he finds the offer irresistible since it will finally give him the chance to learn why his brother chose to betray his country. But what he discovers in Moscow is far more than he ever imagined ...

well-known American journalist travels to Germany to write about the Allied occupation--and also to find the German woman with whom he had an affair before the war began. In war-ravaged Berlin, he finds more than he expected, including a murdered American soldier and a stunning level of postwar corruption that is inextricably mixed with the American and Russian rocket projects. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

Jake Geismar cut his teeth as a foreign correspondent in pre-war Berlin. When he returns in 1945 to cover the Potsdam conference he finds the city unrecognisable - streets have vanished beneath the rubble, familiar landmarks truncated by high explosive. But amongst the ruins Berliners survive, including some he knew and, miraculously, his lost love, Lena. But in the way she would not leave with him before the war, Lena won't join him now without finding her husband and Emil has disappeared from the safe care of the Americans who, turning a blind eye to his links with Hitler, want his expertise as a rocket designer for themselves. Trawling through the shambles of the city, through the illegal night clubs and the thriving black market, Jake discovers that the twilight war of intrigue between west and east has already begun and that he could quite easily be one of its first casualties. This is a novel of war, an action thriller, a tale of raw emotion and survival. Above all it is a tour de force of the triumph of humanity over man's depravity. Visit the author's website at ...

Adam Miller had had a long war, and when the US Army let him go he made his way to Venice where his mother was trying to recreate her pre-war life. Exhausted both in body and spirit the pace of the ancient city began to heal him, and when he met Claudia, an Italian Jewess, he was ripe for seduction. Claudia''s war had been worse, and after Mussolini''s downfall she was quickly betrayed to the SS. While she survived her father didn''t and to her horror she discovers that the man who was responsible for them being sent to the camp is about to become her new lover''s step-father. In a violent confrontation Adam and Claudia are left needing to create an unbreakable alibi, which they do, but to uphold it Adam must establish what really happened to these people and in doing so exposes the ambiguity of morality in peace and in war, and has to grapple with the questions of what is good or evil, what is right or wrong, and does truth really matter?

From the most accomplished spy novelist working today (The Sunday Times, London), a heart-poundingly suspenseful (The Washington Post) espionage thriller set at the height of the Cold War, when a captured American who has spied for the KGB is returned to East Berlin, needing to know who arranged for his release and what they now want from him.Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system. Kellers most critical possession: his American passport. Kellers most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife Sabine and their young son.The exchange is made with the formality characteristic of these swaps. But Martin has other questions: Who asked for him? Who negotiated the deal? The KGB? He knows that nothing happens by chance. They want him for something. Not physicshis expertise is out of date. Something else, which he cannot learn until he arrives in East Berlin, when suddenly the game is afoot.Intriguing and atmospheric, with action rising to a dangerous climax, The Berlin Exchange expertly describes what happens when a disillusioned former agent tries to come in from the cold (The New York Times Book Review), confirming Kanon as the greatest writer ever of historical espionage fiction (Spybrary).