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Henry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He was editor of the Atticus column on the Sunday Times, moving to set up the Sunday Correspondent magazine in 1988. He contributes commentary and reportage to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of the American magazine Vanity Fair and divides his time between New York and London.
CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Finalist 2010. This first class thriller with its worryingly feasible storyline is gripping stuff. Published in 2009 the novel was set shortly after the 2012 Olympics and predicted a near future where civil liberties had been eroded; a surveillance state of ‘totalitarian technology’ where the British government colludes with big business to spy on its subjects. Just three years on from publication, Henry Porter’s ‘prophecies’ in The Dying Light have now come to pass with terrifying accuracy. As well as being “one of the masters of the genre” (DAILY TELEGRAPH) Henry is a writer and journalist specialising in liberty and civil rights, and has been contributing to the GUARDIAN coverage of the NSA and GCHQ surveillance revelations of 2013. Click here to see his "Opinion Pieces" in the Guardian. Comparison: Gerald Seymour, Robert Wilson, Alan Furst. CWA Judges’ comments: 'Alarming political thriller with a powerful message: our freedom and personal integrity are at risk.'
CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Finalist 2010. A chilling tale of what Britain could so easily become – a police state with stifling surveillances able to manipulate anyone. This raises the question of how far the state should interfere with our private lives in the name of security. David Eyam has found a way to stop the rot and a dramatic plot unfolds. Well written and worryingly feasible, this is gripping stuff. First class. Comparison: Gerald Seymour, Robert Wilson, Alan Furst. CWA Judges’ comments: 'Alarming political thriller with a powerful message: our freedom and personal integrity are at risk.'
There are very few people writing in this traditional spy novel genre, and even fewer as good as this man. This is his fourth novel, a tale of nerve and intelligence set as the Berlin Wall is torn down. This title is also available as an Audiobook in CD format.Comparison: Robert Harris, John Le Carré, Gerald Seymour. Similar this month: Terence Strong, Douglas Reeman.
The stunning new thriller from 'the proud carrier of the flag first unfurled by John le Carre' (LEE CHILD) 'An espionage master' CHARLES CUMMING 'Timely and terrific' MICK HERRON On a deserted road in Calabria, Greek aid worker Anastasia Cristakos is driving alone to visit one of the new refugee centres funded by billionaire Denis Hisami whom she has recently married. She slows down to greet two African migrants she recognises. Too late she realises they are not her friends. This is an ambush. She manages a desperate phone call to Hisami before her Mafia kidnappers silence her with a powerful drug. Hours later she wakes up in the pitch dark on a container ship, powering eastwards across the Mediterranean. Anastasia has been abducted and held hostage because Hisami has explosive information that his enemies have killed for and will kill for again. But Hisami can do nothing to save his wife. His time as a commander with the Kurdish Peshmerga has caught up with him. The US authorities have seized his passport and jailed him for possible terrorist activities in the past. For all his wealth, he is powerless. Only one man can help him. Paul Samson, former MI6 agent and a genius at tracking missing persons. He's the obvious choice. There's only one snag. Samson was, and probably still is, in love with Anastasia. If he manages to locate and save her, will it be for Hisami - or himself?
The stunning new thriller from 'the proud carrier of the flag first unfurled by John le Carre' (LEE CHILD) 'An espionage master' CHARLES CUMMING 'Timely and terrific' MICK HERRON On a deserted road in Calabria, Greek aid worker Anastasia Cristakos is driving alone to visit one of the new refugee centres funded by billionaire Denis Hisami whom she has recently married. She slows down to greet two African migrants she recognises. Too late she realises they are not her friends. This is an ambush. She manages a desperate phone call to Hisami before her Mafia kidnappers silence her with a powerful drug. Hours later she wakes up in the pitch dark on a container ship, powering eastwards across the Mediterranean. Anastasia has been abducted and held hostage because Hisami has explosive information that his enemies have killed for and will kill for again. But Hisami can do nothing to save his wife. His time as a commander with the Kurdish Peshmerga has caught up with him. The US authorities have seized his passport and jailed him for possible terrorist activities in the past. For all his wealth, he is powerless. Only one man can help him. Paul Samson, former MI6 agent and a genius at tracking missing persons. He's the obvious choice. There's only one snag. Samson was, and probably still is, in love with Anastasia. If he manages to locate and save her, will it be for Hisami - or himself?
'Compulsively readable' Observer An ex British spy finds himself dragged back into the world of espionage after a mysterious plane crash... Robert Harland ended his career as a British spy in an Austrian hospital, after being tortured and beaten by Czech security agents in the last days of the communist regime. He was young enough then to find a new life with the Red Cross and then with the UN. Twelve years later his UN plane crashes in mysterious circumstances at La Guardia airport, New York and Harland is the only survivor. Was it sabotage and, if so, was Harland the target? It is soon clear to Harland that the answers are to be found in his past, a past which, along with its secrets and tradecraft, he has desperately tried to forget. And now the crash has thrown him back into a world of relentless intrigue and mistrust, to his youth, and a life-changing love affair...
'An espionage master' Charles Cumming Former spy Robert Harland returns in this nailbiting thriller set in the aftermath of 9/11 The head of the US National Security Agency is assassinated in spectacular fashion at Heathrow. An airport employee and his family are found murdered in their council house in Uxbridge. In New York, a fashionable Upper East Side osteopath receives two postcards showing the Empire State Building. A group of migrant workers are brutally gunned down in Macedonia. The quest to find the link between these apparently random events is pursued by Robert Harland - drawn back to a world he thought he'd left behind - with a dual role for the UN and MI6.
'A fascinating switchback roller-coaster of a plot' Guardian November 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall. One man is caught between East and West... The Stasi was among the most sophisticated intelligence organisations in the world, but by the end of the 1980s the Orwellian state of East Germany was collapsing around it. In the last few paranoid weeks of the Communist world one man will carry out one last desperate mission under the very noses of the Stasi. Dr Rudolf Rosenharte is an academic from Dresden and agent for MI6; his controller is Robert Harland, from A Spy's Life and Empire State. When Rosenharte's security is compromised he is faced with a stark choice: to defect to the West, leaving his beloved family to the mercies of the Stasi, or return to East Germany to carry out the most dangerous assignment of his career. November 1989 will mean the end of communism. But will it mean the end of Rosenharte?
'An espionage master' Charles Cumming A terrifying plot to unleash destruction in London. A very unlikely spy. The countdown has begun... Constantine Lindow is waiting for his brother Eamonn outside a central London tube station when a bus turns into the street and explodes. The next day Con is arrested as the prime suspect for the bombing. Con is determined to prove his innocence, but the only way he can do that is to find the real bomber. As he digs deeper, he finds himself confronted by his own brother's secret life - and the cold-blooded killers from his past. The trail leads Con halfway across the world and back to London, where he tracks down a killer with a genius for encryption codes. Only Con can crack the code. Only Con can stop that telephone ringing... 'British espionage fiction is the best in the world, and Porter is part of the reason why' Lee Child
A chilling police surveillance thriller from 'one of the masters of the genre' Sunday Telegraph At the funeral the bells of the church were rung open rather than half-muffled, as is usual for the dead. Kate Lockhart has come, along with corporate leaders, ministers and intelligence chiefs, to a beautiful town in the Welsh Marches to mourn her soul mate, David Eyam, the brightest government servant of his generation. All that remains of Eyam are the burnt fragments of a man killed far from home in a horrific explosion. Eyam has left a devastating legacy which certain people at the funeral are desperate to suppress - but Kate Lockhart is equal to Eyam's legacy. She becomes the focus of the state's paranoiac power and leads the local resistance to it, directed from beyond the grave by Eyam. And the state is no match for the genius of the dead... An incredibly prescient thriller set in the aftermath of the Snowden news story from the bestselling author of Brandenburg.
The boy could help them bring down a deadly ISIS terror cell. They just have to find him before the other side does. 'A welcome return ... Firefly is both timely and terrific' Mick Herron 'An espionage master' Charles Cumming 'British espionage fiction is the best in the world, and Porter is part of the reason why' Lee Child From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen year old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed 'Firefly', he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information. When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, ex-MI6 agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety. A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from the acclaimed and award-winning author of Brandenburg and The Dying Light.
'A welcome return ... Firefly seems ripped from the headlines and is both timely and terrific' Mick Herron 'The eagerly awaited return of an espionage master' Charles Cumming From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen year old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed 'Firefly', he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information. When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, ex-MI6 agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety. A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from the acclaimed and award-winning author of Brandenburg and The Dying Light.
The boy could help them bring down a deadly ISIS terror cell. They just have to find him before the other side does. 'A welcome return ... Firefly is both timely and terrific' Mick Herron 'An espionage master' Charles Cumming 'British espionage fiction is the best in the world, and Porter is part of the reason why' Lee Child From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen year old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed 'Firefly', he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information. When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, ex-MI6 agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety. A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from the acclaimed and award-winning author of Brandenburg and The Dying Light.
