First published 2014
Georges Picquart watches Alfred Dreyfus stripped of his military rank before twenty thousand jeering Parisians. The young Jewish officer has been convicted of selling secrets to Germany and sentenced to Devil's Island for life. Picquart, the newly appointed head of counterespionage, helped build the case against Dreyfus and believes completely in his guilt. But after Dreyfus disappears into his island prison, Picquart uncovers troubling information. Someone is still passing French military secrets to the Germans. As Picquart digs deeper, the evidence points to a conspiracy reaching the highest levels of government. The real spy remains free while an innocent man rots in solitary confinement. Picquart faces an agonizing choice between his career and his conscience. Exposing the truth means challenging the military establishment that made him. Staying silent means abandoning Dreyfus to a living hell. Harris transforms the Dreyfus affair into a taut thriller about one man's moral awakening in the face of institutional corruption.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, thriller, espionage, 19th-century
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: institutional-corruption, moral-awakening
Setting: France, Paris, Devil's Island
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
429 pages · Hardcover · Knopf