The Cover Wife

The latest high-stakes spy thriller from master of the genre Dan Fesperman transports the reader to Paris and Hamburg, and deep into the conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks.

The new high-stakes spy thriller from a master of the genre transports the reader to Paris and Hamburg, and deep into the conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks.

Paris, October 1999. CIA agent Claire Saylor is looking after low-level surveillance ops. Her career has stalled after a misguided dalliance with her handler Paul Bridger – so when Bridger asks Claire to join a team, she prepares herself for a stint on tea duties. But in fact, he's finally put her back in the game. She'll be going undercover as the wife of Professor Winston Armitage – an expert in the Quran and its translations. He's presenting his controversial new theory on the fabled promise of 72 virgins for each martyr, and needs protection.

But when Claire arrives in Hamburg, it soon becomes clear that this is no routine protection job: she's there to uncover a conspiracy that will lead to the 9/11 terror attacks. And if she blows her cover, she could lose her life...

PRAISE FOR SAFE HOUSES:

'The narrative choreography demanded by Fesperman's split timelines is expertly handled, and the dilemma faced by Helen, in particular – whether to be a good employee or a good citizen – illustrates the kind of weight that the spy novel, in the right hands, is capable of bearing' Mick Herron, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

'Fesperman raises the bar sky-high with this one. Smart, sophisticated, suspenseful, and intensely human. One of the great espionage novels of our time' LEE CHILD