First published 2007
Brano Sev once served as the Party's watchful eye within the Criminal Brigade of a socialist republic's capital. Driven by mysterious logic and buried in classified files, the State Security inspector carried out his duties without question. By 1966, everything has changed. Major Sev finds himself implicated in a murder in Austria, and his superiors dispatch him to his hometown to investigate a suspected double agent. The investigation pulls him back to Vienna, where spies from every faction swarm through the Cold War landscape. His comrades abandon him. Trapped between East and West, Sev faces an unfamiliar temptation. For the first time in his career, he considers placing his personal life ahead of his patriotic obligations.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, espionage, political-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Austria, Vienna, Yalta
Period: 1966
350 pages · Paperback · Editions Liana Levi