"Steinhauer (The Confession) is a master at entangling a
compelling protagonist in a spellbinding web where each broken thread entraps
the character (and the reader) in yet another mystery. This is an imaginative,
brilliantly plotted espionage thriller, with finely detailed settings and a protagonist
of marvelous complexity. Highly recommended."Library Journal

"With its shifting perceptions, pervasive paranoia, and truly unpredictable plot, this
will be savored by readers of well-crafted espionage ranging from Alan Furst to John
le Carr."Booklist

State Security Officer Brano Sev is the secretive member of the homicide department
of the capital's people's militia. No one else quite trusts him, but it is part of his job to
do what the authorities ask, no matter what. So when he gets an order to travel to the
village of his birth in order to interrogate a potential defector, he goes. When a man
turns up dead shortly after he arrives and Brano is framed for the murder, he assumes
this is part of the plan and allows it to run its course.

But when the plan leads him into exile in Vienna, he finally begins to ask questions.
In fact, Comrade Brano Sev learns that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest
crime of all.

Olen Steinhauer was raised in Virginia and Texas and attended Emerson College. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship that enabled him to live in Romania for ten months and provided the impetus for a lifelong fascination with Eastern Europe. He currently lives in Hungary.

Yuri Rasovsky is a Peabody, Grammy, and Audie Award-winning producer who has been writing, producing, and directing audio drama for thirty years. His productions of The Odyssey of Homer, Seven Classic Plays, and Tales for a Stormy Night are published exclusively by Blackstone Audiobooks.