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‘One of our finest thriller writers’ Evening Standard

A BBC2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK 2021

‘Oliver Harris is always pure quality’ Ian Rankin

‘A fascinating tale of modern espionage in a unique setting’ Irish Independent

Three friends from a mission many years ago reconnect when one of them dies in mysterious circumstances on remote Ascension Island. Rory Bannatyne had been tasked with tapping a new transatlantic data cable, but a day before he was due to return home he is found hanged. When Kathryn Taylor, on the South Atlantic MI5 desk, begs ex-spy Elliot Kane to go over and investigate, he can’t say no, but it’s an uneasy reintroduction to the intelligence game.

Entirely isolated from the world, the disappearance of a young girl on the island at the same time as Rory’s death means local tensions are high. Elliot needs to discover what happened to her as well as to Rory. But the island contains more secrets than even the government knows, and it’s not going to give them up without a fight.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
‘Captivating…Gripping, relevant and frenetic. You’ll be hard pressed to put this one down for a second’ Amazon reader five star review

‘Stunning spy novel…This is the best of its genre I’ve read’ Amazon reader five star review

‘A bit like a thinking person’s Lee Child’ Amazon reader five star review

Publisher Review

The binary simplicity of the Cold War has been replaced by a geopolitical Rubik's cube of corruption, nationalism, oil money and internet deceit. Tremendous evocation of modern Kazakhstan and the contemporary intelligence landscape. Scary if true, or even half true * Sunday Times Crime Club, star pick for A Shadow Intelligence * Elliott Kane is an unusually thoughtful spy...As much a thinker as a doer, Kane has much in common with le Carre's Jerry Westerby * Irish Times, praise for A Shadow Intelligence * Oliver Harris is always pure quality and I'm loving the hell out of his foray into the contemporary spy novel. Elegant and compulsive' * Ian Rankin, praise for A Shadow Intelligence * This may be the deepest a contemporary spy novel has penetrated the cold new world of dark web intelligence and cellphone surveillance....An absorbing, superbly written novel likely to stand as one of the best spy novels of the year * Kirkus, starred review for A Shadow Intelligence *