"The new novel from a master of the Cold War thriller . . .
'This is Robert Harris storytelling territory' Daily Mail
'Outstanding' Sunday Times
'Tense, exciting and authentic' Charles Cumming, author of Judas 62
'Stunning' The Times
'Brilliantly plotted' John Sweeney, author of Killer in the Kremlin
'A standout thriller' Financial Times
1963. In a desolate Russian penal colony, the radio broadcasts news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin's new posting as director of a gulag camp in the middle of the frozen tundra is far from a promotion. This is where disgraced agents, like Vasin, disappear - sent to die forgotten. And quietly. But tensions in the camp are running high and when a violent revolt breaks out, Vasin finds himself on the run. With him is a mysterious prisoner - who holds the key to the most dangerous secret in the world: who ordered Kennedy's murder.
In a breathless race that takes them through the Soviet Union - from the barren Siberian wastelands to the stunning halls of the Katerina Palace and the grey streets of Leningrad and Moscow - Vasin must stay one step ahead of the most ruthless spy and police organizations in the world . . . and keep the most wanted man in Russia alive. It's a journey that will push Vasin's loyalty, morality and his patriotism to the limit. And he must confront the ultimate choice: fall in line, or die fighting the system.
With masterful storytelling that weaves together an explosive moment in history with the cutthroat machinations of Soviet politics, Owen Matthews' White Fox captures the paradigm-shifting assassination from a unique Soviet point of view. This is a page-turning thriller - a race against time across Soviet Russia, where the participants face impossible odds and must decide between truth, justice and all-out war."
"Winner of the Pushkin House Book Prize 2023
*A Telegraph Book of the Year*
A Times Best Book of Summer 2023
*Shortlisted for the Parliamentary Book Awards*
An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol.
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War – and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin apparently lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime – and Russia itself – at risk of destruction. Why?
Drawing on over 25 years’ experience as a correspondent in Moscow, as well as his own family ties to Russia and Ukraine, journalist Owen Matthews takes us through the poisoned historical roots of the conflict, into the Covid bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of paranoia about Western threats, and finally into the inner circle around Ukrainian president and unexpected war hero Volodimir Zelensky.
Using the accounts of current and former insiders from the Kremlin and its propaganda machine, the testimony of captured Russian soldiers and on-the-ground reporting from Russia and Ukraine, Overreach tells the story not only of the war’s causes but how the first six months unfolded.
With its panoramic view, Overreach is an authoritative, unmissable record of a conflict that shocked Europe to its core."
"Hochspannender Polit-Thriller, der vor dem Hintergrund der Kuba-Krise spielt und auf realen Ereignissen beruht
Moskau, 1962. Alexander Wassin ist der Top-Agentenjäger des KGB. Als es gilt, einen Maulwurf im Kreml aufzuspüren, kommt nur er dafür infrage. Während die Spannungen zwischen Chruschtschow und Kennedy zunehmen und die Kubakrise auf ihren Höhepunkt zusteuert, ahnt Wassin nicht, dass das Schicksal der Welt bald vom Erfolg seiner Mission abhängt - und von der Geduld des Kapitäns einer sowjetischen U-Boot-Flotte, der weit unter dem Meer auf die Befehle seiner Kommandanten wartet, zu denen er den Kontakt verloren hat."
"Sowjetunion, 1961: Major Alexander Vasin, Agent des KGB, wird mit einem Spezialauftrag in die isolierte Stadt Arsamas-16 geschickt. Er soll dort den mysteriösen Tod des jungen Physikers Fyodor Petrov untersuchen. In Arsamas-16 herrscht höchste Geheimhaltungsstufe, denn dort wird gerade die Testzündung der größten Wasserstoffbombe der Welt vorbereitet. Bei seinen Ermittlungen stößt Vasin auf eine Wand des Schweigens. Was versuchen die Forscher zu verbergen?"
"'Outstanding' SUNDAY TIMES 'Crime Book of the Month'
'A stunning debut thriller . . . ferocious, authentic and utterly terrifying . . . absolutely riveting' DAILY MAIL
1961. Hidden deep within central Soviet Russia is a place that doesn’t appear on any map: a city called Arzamas-16. Here a community of dedicated scientists and technicians is building the most powerful nuclear device the world will ever see – three thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima.
But days before the bomb is to be tested, a young physicist is found dead. His body contains enough radioactive poison to kill thousands. The Arzamas authorities believe it is suicide – they want the corpse disposed of, the incident filed and forgotten. But Moscow is alarmed by what’s going on in this strange, isolated place.
And so KGB major Alexander Vasin is sent to investigate. What he finds in Arzamas is unlike anything he’s experienced before. His wits will be tested against some of the most brilliant minds in the Soviet Union – eccentrics, patriots and dissidents who, because their work is considered to be of such vital national importance, have been granted the freedom to think and act, live and love as they wish. For in Arzamas, nothing can be allowed to get in the way of the project. Not even murder . . .
Intricately researched, cunningly plotted and brilliantly told, Black Sun is a fast-paced and timely thriller set at the height – and in the heart – of Soviet power from the acclaimed author of An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent"
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