City of Secrets

Excellent . . .a little jewel, wonderfully sparse, moody and uneasy, reminiscent of the delicious, frayed-collar noir of le Carré's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold . . .You can smell the squally desert wind that bends the cypress trees on the Jerusalem hills but never brings the rain. City of Secrets makes for great summer reading. - Jason Matthews, The New York Times Book Review Post-World War II Jerusalem is the provocative setting for Stewart O'Nan's atmospheric thriller. . .a richly-imagined story. . .may be one of O'Nan's best. Its strength lies in his ability, as always, to take us inside the minds and souls of characters, real or imagined. - The Chicago Tribune Masterful. . .its impact is deceptively large because O'Nan has something that can't be taught to a writer - and can indeed by unlearned by talented writers: the gift of authenticity. -The Washington Post A fine piece of storytelling. . .a work in the exotic historic mode of Graham Greene, with the drier and grittier tone of Raymond Chandler. . .the moral struggle in City of Secrets is timeless and international. - The Boston Globe Enthralling. . .O'Nan takes a clear-eyed and unsentimental look at an astonishing slice of history - one that is strikingly echoed by the heartbreaking events still unfolding in the Middle East. - The Seattle Times A fast-moving story that brings fresh perspective to a moment of historical significance . . . O'Nan's storytelling, once again, demonstrates why he has earned a place among our most illustrious writers. -St. Louis Post Dispatch A search for love and justice after the Holocaust. . . I'll not soon forget Brand and his quest for something worth believing in. . . worth applauding, too, is Mr. O'Nan's ability to realize a complex female character in Eva. -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Stewart O'Nan's City of Secrets will keep you up all night reading - what a beautifully crafted novel. - Alan Furst, New York Times bestselling author of Mission to Paris Finely wrought and morally complex, O'Nan's considerable story-telling powers are masterfully deployed here. With deft strokes, he evokes the tensions and tragedies of Mandate Jerusalem, riven then as now by the fault lines of community and conscience. - Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret Chord I've been a Stewart O'Nan fan since his very first novel, and never more so than with his latest. In City of Secrets , O'Nan takes his mastery of language and depth of character in a fresh direction: a richly nuanced suspense novel, set in an immensely intriguing post-war Jerusalem. A remarkable book. - Chris Pavone, author of The Expats Imaginative and nimble, O'Nan is a master of narrative distillation, and in his latest taut novel, set in British-ruled Jerusalem immediately after WWII, he achieves thriller-like suspense. . .[an] engrossing portrait of an innocent caught in the web of history. - ALA Booklist (starred) A probing, keening thriller. . .though rigorously unsentimental, the text seethes with unresolved emotions. . .the complex moral issues it raises linger unsettlingly. - Kirkus Reviews (starred) A Conradian espionage thriller leavened with existential introspection. . .O'Nan's novel works on several levels, but it is especially memorable as a story where the tortured emotions of its characters are indistinguishable from the turmoil of the chaotic events that overwhelm them. - Publishers Weekly From the Hardcover edition.