The Poet’s Game By Paul Vidich

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‘Tense’ and ‘fast-moving’ Kirkus on Beirut Station

‘Confirms Vidich’s status in the front rank of spy writers’ Tim Shipman in The Sunday Times on Beirut Station

‘We all have dreams and then we wake up.’

Alex Matthews thought he had left it all behind. His CIA career, the viper’s den of bureaucracy at headquarters and the lies and stress of the cat and mouse game of double agents. But then the Director came asking for a favour.

Alex is a different man from when he had run Moscow station, where he recruited a network of ‘poet spies’ including the one he names BYRON. He has pieced his life back together after a tragic boating accident killed his wife and daughter but the scars remain. But Alex remains, in his mind, a patriot, and so he begrudgingly accepts the Director’s request.

Something, though, is off about the whole operation from the start. The Russians seem one step ahead and the CIA suspects there is a traitor in the agency. Alex realizes that by getting back into the game he has risked everything he has worked for: his new marriage, his family’s safety, his firm. As the noose tightens around Alex, and the FSB closes in, the operation becomes a hall of mirrors with no exits. To find redemption, Alex must uncover the secrets behind BYRON or lose everything.