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Table of Contents
About The Book
Named “The Book of the Year” by Lee Child in The Guardian
From “master of the genre” (The Washington Post) and author of Leaving Berlin, a heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel about a Nazi war criminal who was supposed to be dead, the rogue CIA agent on his trail, and the beautiful woman connected to them both.
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz—nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm. He was the camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities. With his life nearing its end, Max asks his nephew Aaron Wiley—an American CIA desk analyst—to complete the task Max never could: to track down Otto in Argentina, capture him, and bring him back to Germany to stand trial.
Unable to deny his uncle, Aaron travels to Buenos Aires and discovers a city where Nazis thrive in plain sight, mingling with Argentine high society. He ingratiates himself with Otto’s alluring but damaged daughter, whom he’s convinced is hiding her father. Enlisting the help of a German newspaper reporter, an Israeli agent, and the obliging CIA station chief in Buenos Aires, he hunts for Otto—a complicated monster, unexpectedly human but still capable of murder if cornered. Unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron will ultimately have to discover just how far he is prepared to go to render justice.
“With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Joseph Kanon crafts another “gripping and authentic” (The New York Times Book Review) thriller that you won’t be able to put down.
From “master of the genre” (The Washington Post) and author of Leaving Berlin, a heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel about a Nazi war criminal who was supposed to be dead, the rogue CIA agent on his trail, and the beautiful woman connected to them both.
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz—nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm. He was the camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities. With his life nearing its end, Max asks his nephew Aaron Wiley—an American CIA desk analyst—to complete the task Max never could: to track down Otto in Argentina, capture him, and bring him back to Germany to stand trial.
Unable to deny his uncle, Aaron travels to Buenos Aires and discovers a city where Nazis thrive in plain sight, mingling with Argentine high society. He ingratiates himself with Otto’s alluring but damaged daughter, whom he’s convinced is hiding her father. Enlisting the help of a German newspaper reporter, an Israeli agent, and the obliging CIA station chief in Buenos Aires, he hunts for Otto—a complicated monster, unexpectedly human but still capable of murder if cornered. Unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron will ultimately have to discover just how far he is prepared to go to render justice.
“With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Joseph Kanon crafts another “gripping and authentic” (The New York Times Book Review) thriller that you won’t be able to put down.
About The Author
© Chad Griffith
Joseph Kanon is the Edgar Award–winning author of Los Alamos and nine other novels: The Prodigal Spy, Alibi, Stardust, Istanbul Passage, Leaving Berlin, Defectors, The Accomplice, The Berlin Exchange, and The Good German, which was made into a major motion picture starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Other awards include the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers and the Human Writes Award of the Anne Frank Foundation. He lives in New York City.
Why We Love It
“Reading a book by Joe Kanon is like sinking into a comfortable seat in a great movie theater and having a just-discovered Hitchcock or Orson Welles classic unspool before your eyes. There is danger and violence and romance, and dialogue so sharp it could cut glass.” —Peter B., VP, Editor-in-Chief, on The Accomplice
Product Details
- Publisher: Atria Books (November 5, 2019)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781501121449
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Raves and Reviews
Praise for The Accomplice
“Gripping and authentic . . . Kanon’s imagination flourishes [and] the narrative propulsion is clear. A thoroughly satisfying piece of entertainment that extends a tentacle into some serious moral reflection.” —Joseph Finder in The New York Times Book Review
"Fueled by brilliant scenes of dialogue...Kanon’s latest sophisticated thriller is teeming with suspense."—Kirkus
“[A] novel of historical espionage and intrigue.” —Wall Street Journal
“[Kanon] has an astonishing talent for revealing character, age, type and even appearance through dialogue alone.” —Lee Child, The Guardian, Book of the Year
“Buenos Aires in the 1960s, home to remnants of the Third Reich in exile, is brought chillingly to life. . . . an engrossing read.” —The Financial Times
“Kanon is on adventurous form in his ninth novel, with echoes of Hitchcock’s Notorious… chilling.” —The Times (London)
“Packed with atmosphere and well-developed plot. . . .a splendid, cerebral read, full of moral and emotional depth.” —Alexander McCall Smith in the New Statesman
“Kanon excels with searching examinations of moral concerns—complicity, guilt, retribution—without ever allowing the pace to flag. The result is that rare thing: an espionage novel which quickens the pulse while providing food for thought.” —The Herald
PRAISE FOR THE WORKS OF JOSEPH KANON:
“Kanon [is] an intelligent writer who produces satisfyingly plotted novels that appeal to readers with brains.” —Philip Kerr, The New York Times Book Review
“With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone, Kanon transcends the form. In its subtly romanticized treatment of compromised lives, this book is even better than his terrific previous effort, Leaving Berlin (2015). A blend of Spy vs. Spy and sibling vs. sibling (not since le Carré's A Perfect Spy has there been a family of spooks to rival this one), Kanon reaffirms his status as one of the very best writers in the genre.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Joseph Kanon’s thought-provoking, pulse-pounding historical espionage thriller [is] stuffed with incident and surprise. . . . Mr. Kanon, author now of seven top-notch novels of period political intrigue, conveys the bleak, oppressive, and creepy atmosphere of occupied Berlin in a detailed, impressive manner. . . . Leaving Berlin is a mix of tense action sequences, sepia-tinged reminiscence, convincing discourse and Berliner wit.” —Wall Street Journal
“Fascinating . . . [Kanon] is a master of the genre. . . [The] roller-coaster plot will keep you guessing until the final page.”
– The Washington Post
"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."
– The Guardian
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Accomplice eBook 9781501121449
- Author Photo (jpg): Joseph Kanon © Chad Griffith(0.1 MB)
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