An action-packed, adrenaline-fueled thriller about a disgraced comedian-turned-politician, who takes on the role of a lifetime: infiltrating a corrupt Eastern European country to spy on their brutal dictator
Hal Knight is a famous, if deeply polarizing, figure in Hollywood and on Capitol Hill. After a disastrous #MeToo encounter, Knight resigns from his seat, quits social media, and disappears to a Caribbean island. Upon his arrival, however, he is approached by a group of mysterious strangers, whom he discovers are CIA agents hoping to penetrate Bolrovia-a hostile, Eastern European country. They want his help in doing so. Bolrovia's oligarch, Nikolai Horvatz, is a fan of Knight's movies, and the agents anticipate Knight will receive an invitation for an official visit imminently. Though Knight is skeptical about the mission, he realizes he has nothing more to lose and could-at last-do something truly meaningful with his life, whether or not anybody ever learns the truth about his hand in the matter. Reluctantly, he agrees to the job.
Arriving in Bolrovia as President Horvatz's guest of honor, Knight is faced with his ultimate acting challenge. He brushes shoulders with Horvatz, Branko Sarič-the president's ruthless head of state security-shadowy figures in their orbit, and another group of Americans whose motivations are unclear. The only people in his corner are a trio of agents led by Lauren Witt, who has her own troubles in the agency and despises Knight. What begins as an assignment to keep his eyes and ears open quickly turns into a life-or-death mission. With Pariah, Dan Fesperman has crafted a heart-pounding thriller about espionage, entertainment, and one man's pursuit of redemption. DAN FESPERMAN served as a foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, based in Berlin. His coverage of the siege of Sarajevo led to his debut novel, Lie in the Dark, which won Britain's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first crime novel. Subsequent books have won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller, the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers, the Barry Award for best thriller, and selection by USA Today as the year's best mystery/thriller novel. He lives in Baltimore.
