The Good Assassin

Paul Vidich follows up his acclaimed debut spy thriller with a suspenseful tale of Cold War espionage set in 1950s Cuba, as foreign powers compete to influence the outcome of a revolution.

The CIA director persuades retired agent George Mueller to go to Cuba during the perilous last throes of the Batista regime to investigate Toby Graham, a CIA operative suspected of assisting Fidel Castro's rebel fighters with diverted CIA weaponry. Posing as a magazine travel writer, Mueller reconnects with Jack and Liz Malone, old friends who have relocated to Cuba and are unable to see the coming upheaval in their lives, both political and personal. Toby's betrayals aren't limited to his mission, and Mueller must make a choice between justice and duty, between loyalty to his profession and to his friends.

Paul Vidich has written a powerful story of ideals, passions, betrayals, and corrupting political rivalries in the months before Castro's triumphant march into Havana on New Year's Day 1959. This sequel showcases the widely praised talents of Paul Vidich, who Booklist says, 'writes with an economy of style that acclaimed novelists might do well to emulate.'

'A simmering, old-fashioned literary spy tale' - Publishers Weekly

'The Good Assassin opens up Hemingway's Cuba. Possessing Alan Furst's attention for period detail and the deft character touches of John Le Carré, Vidich has quickly carved out a place for himself among the very first rank of espionage writers. Masterful.' - Michael Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Chicago Way and Brighton

'Paul Vidich's likeable and reluctant spy, George Mueller, will keep readers guessing in this eerily real Cuba of 1958. The Good Assassin is a keen historical adventure from the best noir tradition' - Elizabeth Kostova, New York Times bestselling author of The Historian