A Spy's Life

'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...

“A welcome return ... timely and terrific-- Mick Herron”

A cat's cradle of a yarn that will keep the reader guessing to the last page ... compulsively readable - Observer

A Spy's Life is a thriller as perfectly timed as it is expertly paced ... Porter takes his readers on a white-knuckle ride but never leaves them for dead - Spectator

Top quality stuff - Daily Mail

Porter continues to breathe new life into spy fiction - Independent

Henry Porter was a regular columnist for the Observer and now writes about European power and politics for The Hive website in the US. He has written several bestselling thrillers, including Brandenburg, which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, A Spy's Life and Empire State, which were both nominated for the same award. He is also the author of the Paul Samson spy thrillers: Firefly, which won the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and White Hot Silence. Henry Porter is frequently described as the heir to John le Carre. He lives in London.

' 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...

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