In this dazzling thriller, New York Times bestselling author Joseph Kanon gives us his richest setting yet: pre-World War II Shanghai, where glamour and squalor exist side by side and murder is just a cost of doing business. A love affair against all odds, a city dancing on the rim of a volcano—Shanghai is the story of a political haven that becomes a minefield of conflicting loyalties.

After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch—if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.

Daniel Lohr was one of the lucky ones—lucky enough to have escaped the Gestapo when his colleagues in the resistance were caught, lucky to have an uncle waiting in Shanghai, lucky to find a casual shipboard flirtation turn unexpectedly passionate. But even lucky refugees have to confront the reality of Shanghai. With all their assets, and passports confiscated by the Nazis, they arrive penniless and stateless in a tumultuous, nearly lawless city notorious for vice. When you can sink fast, how far are you willing to go to survive? What lines do you cross? As Daniel tries to navigate his way through his uncle’s world in Shanghai’s fabled nightlife, he finds himself increasingly ensnared in a maze where politics and crime are two sides of the same shiny coin. The trick, his uncle tells him, is to stay one step ahead.

But how do you stay ahead of murder? How do you outrun your own past?

* Don't miss THE ACCOMPLICE, the next heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel from 'master of the genre' (The Washington Post), Joseph Kanon * 'Up there with the very best . . . Kanon writes beautifully, superbly . . . He is the master of the shadows of the era' The Times From the author of The Good German (made into a film starring George Clooney), Leaving Berlin is a sweeping post-war story and an international bestseller. Berlin is still in ruins almost four years after the war, caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation. Alex Meier is a young Jewish writer who fled the Nazis for America before the war. Now, the politics of his youth have left him embroiled in the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and the loss of his family, Alex 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. Espionage, like the black market, is still a way of life. Praise for Leaving Berlin: 'An unforgettable picture of a city wrecked by defeat and betrayal. Brilliant' The Times 'Leaving Berlin is hauntingly and beautifully written. You're going to love it . . . Falling into the book is like falling into a vice; it grips you, pitilessly, until the last page' Richard & Judy Book Club 'Hugely exciting' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most exciting books I've read in years' Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series 'Brings the hardships and moral decay of post-war Berlin to life in glorious detail' Daily Express

'A modern master at work' THE TIMES 'Heart-poundingly suspenseful' WASHINGTON POST 'Joseph Kanon owns this corner of the literary landscape' LEE CHILD Berlin. 1963. The height of the Cold War and an early morning spy swap. On one side of the trade: Martin Keller, an American physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system. Keller's most critical possession: his American passport. Keller's most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife Sabine and their young son. But Martin has questions: who asked for him? Who negotiated the deal? Just the KGB bringing home one of its agents? Or, as he hopes, a more personal intervention? He has worked for the service long enough to know that nothing happens by chance. They want him for something. Not physics - his expertise is years out of date. Something else, which he cannot learn until he arrives in East Berlin, when suddenly the game is afoot. From the master of suspense, this is an exhilarating return to Joseph Kanon's heartland, the perilous backdrop of Berlin, now at the height of the Cold War. 'An enjoyable blend of atmospherics, doomed love story and Cold War derring-do' Sunday Times 'Thoroughly absorbing, a thoughtful and subtle evocation of a place and era' Sunday Telegraph 'Kanon is fast approaching the complexity and relevance not just of le Carre and Greene but even of Orwell' New York Times 'Joseph Kanon continues to demonstrate that he is up there with the very best...of spy thriller writers...Kanon writes beautifully, superbly' The Times 'The critical stock of Joseph Kanon is high' Guardian

'A modern master at work' THE TIMES 'Heart-poundingly suspenseful' WASHINGTON POST 'Joseph Kanon owns this corner of the literary landscape' LEE CHILD Berlin. 1963. The height of the Cold War and an early morning spy swap. On one side of the trade: Martin Keller, an American physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system. Keller's most critical possession: his American passport. Keller's most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife Sabine and their young son. But Martin has questions: who asked for him? Who negotiated the deal? Just the KGB bringing home one of its agents? Or, as he hopes, a more personal intervention? He has worked for the service long enough to know that nothing happens by chance. They want him for something. Not physics - his expertise is years out of date. Something else, which he cannot learn until he arrives in East Berlin, when suddenly the game is afoot. From the master of suspense, this is an exhilarating return to Joseph Kanon's heartland, the perilous backdrop of Berlin, now at the height of the Cold War. 'An enjoyable blend of atmospherics, doomed love story and Cold War derring-do' Sunday Times 'Thoroughly absorbing, a thoughtful and subtle evocation of a place and era' Sunday Telegraph 'Kanon is fast approaching the complexity and relevance not just of le Carre and Greene but even of Orwell' New York Times 'Joseph Kanon continues to demonstrate that he is up there with the very best...of spy thriller writers...Kanon writes beautifully, superbly' The Times 'The critical stock of Joseph Kanon is high' Guardian

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

In the bestselling tradition of espionage novels by John LeCarre and Alan Furst, "Istanbul Passage" brilliantly illustrates why Edgar Award-winning author Joseph Kanon has been hailed as "the heir apparent to Graham Greene" ("The Boston Globe").
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 wrong--an 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 Passageis 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.

'Gripping and authentic' NEW YORK TIMES 'Heartrending . . . An engrossing read'FINANCIAL TIMES * Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich. Max Weill has never forgotten the face of Otto Schramm, a doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max's family to the gas chambers. A Nazi war criminal who is supposed to be dead. When Schramm escaped to South America after the war, Max swore to one day bring him back to Germany to stand trial. With his life now nearing its end, he asks his nephew Aaron Wiley - a CIA desk analyst - to capture the doctor. And the rogue CIA agent on his trail. In Buenos Aires, and unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron must test the boundaries of his own personal morality and ultimately decide: how far is he prepared to go to render justice? Praise for Joseph Kanon 'Joseph Kanon owns this corner of the literary landscape and it's a joy to see him reassert his title with such emphatic authority' Lee Child 'Clever, devious and morally complex'Sunday Times 'Sensational! No one writes period fiction with the same style and suspense - not to mention substance - as Joseph Kanon' Scott Turow 'Kanon is fast approaching the complexity and relevance not just of le Carre and Greene but even of Orwell' New York Times 'The perfect combination of intrigue and accurate history brought to life' Alan Furst 'Joseph Kanon continues to demonstrate that he is up there with the very best...of spy thriller writers...Kanon writes beautifully, superbly...he is the master of the shadows of the era' The Times 'The critical stock of Joseph Kanon is high, and Defectors will add further lustre to his reputation...There are pleasing echoes here of the "entertainments" of Graham Greene' Guardian

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 year is 1946. A stunned Europe is beginning its slow recovery from the ravages of World War II. Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and forget the horrors he witnessed as a US Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when Adam falls in love with Claudia, a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating experiences during the war, he is forced to confront a Venice haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Beneath the dream-like facade he discovers a city in which everyone was compromised by occupation, not least Gianni Maglione, the suave and enigmatic Venetian who is both his mother's new suitor and the man responsible for much of Claudia's suffering. When the troubled past erupts in violent murder, Adam finds himself at the centre of a torturous web in which the most valuable thing is not a stone-cold alibi, but the truth itself. The truth will out in this fantastic mystery from the author of Leaving Berlin and The Good German.

Winner of the Hammett Prize It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when he falls in love with Claudia, a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating experiences during World War II, he is forced to confront another Venice, a city still at war with itself, haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Everyone, including his mother's suave new Venetian suitor, has been compromised by the occupation, and Adam finds himself at the center of a web of deception, intrigue, and unexpected moral dilemmas. When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi?
"Alibi "is at once a murder mystery, a love story, and a superbly crafted novel about the nature of moral responsibility.

'Brilliantly captures the burgeoning Cold War paranoia' Observer Elegantly written and deftly constructed, Los Alamos is the stunning debut novel of the author of Leaving Berlin and The Good German. Spring 1945. As work on the first atomic bomb nears completion in New Mexico, Karl Bruner, a Manhattan Project security officer, is found murdered. Michael Connolly, the intelligence officer brought in to crack Bruner's case, soon discovers that investigating a murder in Los Alamos - a town so secret it does not officially exist - is anything but easy. Only once he falls in love and begins an affair with Emma, the enigmatic wife of one of the scientists, does he truly begin to unravel the dark heart of the Project. Interweaving fact and fiction, Los Alamos is at once a powerful novel of historical intrigue and a vivid portrait of the most mysterious figures involved in the Manhattan Project: Robert Oppenheimer. 'Accomplished and beautifully written' Sunday Telegraph 'Enthralling . . . a dream of a novel' Time Out

Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?
Ben enters the uneasy world beneath the glossy shine of the movie business, where politics and the dream factories collide and Communist witch hunts are rendering the biggest star makers vulnerable. Even here, where the devastation of Europe seems no more real than a painted movie set, the war casts long and dangerous shadows. When Ben learns troubling facts about his own family's past and embarks on a love affair that never should have happened, he is caught in a web of deception that shakes his moral foundation to its core.
Rich with atmosphere and period detail, "Stardust "flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller evoking both the glory days of the movies and the emergence of a dark strain of American political life.

The bestselling author of Los Alamos returns to 1945. Hitler has been defeated, and Berlin is divided into zones of occupation. Jake Geismar, an American correspondent who spent time in the city before the war, has returned to write about the Allied triumph while pursuing a more personal quest: his search for Lena, the married woman he left behind. When an American soldier’s body is found in the Russian zone during the Potsdam Conference, Jake stumbles on the lead to a murder mystery. The Good German is a story of espionage and love, an extraordinary recreation of a city devastated by war, and a thriller that asks the most profound ethical questions in its exploration of the nature of justice, and what we mean by good and evil in times of peace and of war.