With Chris Petit's electrifying saga of violence, greed, intrigue, and deception spanning six decades and three continents... THE GREAT ESPIONAGE NOVEL IS REBORN Willi Schmidt's actions in World War II were an enigma. He worked for U.S. Intelligence out of Switzerland, cut black-market deals on the side, and rescued scores of Jews from death. Either way, Schmidt drifted in the murky waters between saint and sinner -- and reports of his death in 1945 surprised no one. Sixty years later, some believe Schmidt is still alive. One is Joe Hoover, a former Intelligence courier still haunted by his own top-secret wartime dealings with the Nazis. Now, someone wants Hoover dead. Returning to Europe to unravel the nightmares that plague his very soul, Hoover finds that the unspeakable operations he thought were over are still at work. To redeem himself at last, Hoover tracks the shadow of the elusive Schmidt, and uncovers the specter of World War II's most grotesque and enduring horror -- a trade in people:
THE HUMAN POOL

Chris Petit is the author of The Psalm Killer and Back from the Dead, and a former editor of London's Time Out magazine. He is also a filmmaker whose directorial credits include Radio On and Chinese Boxes, and his documentaries have won several awards. He lives in London, where he is at work on his next novel, to be published in hardcover by Atria Books.