"A taut, chilling plot and a protagonist as memorable as one of Len Deighton's, or le Carré's Smiley."--The New York Times Book Review

Charlie Heller is an ace cryptographer for the CIA, a quiet man in a quiet back-office job. But when his fiancée, Sarah Diamond, is murdered by terrorists at the American Embassy in West Germany and the Company refuses to pursue her killers, Heller decides to take matters into his own hands.

As Heller embarks on a dangerous personal mission behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia to track down Sarah's killers, he becomes both the hunter and the hunted--an amateur facing off against the world's deadliest assassins and spies. But nothing will stop him from getting revenge. Expertly plotted with shocking twists and pulse-pounding suspense, The Amateur is a sleek and stunning novel that belongs on the shelves of every espionage aficionado.