American Spy

“American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality.”—Entertainment Weekly “There has never been anything like it.”—Marlon James,GQ “So much fun . . . Like the best of John le Carréit’s extremely tough to put down.”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Esquire • BuzzFeed • Vulture • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • The New York Public Library What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It’s 1986the heart of the Cold Warand Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliantbut she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled outshe’s overlooked for every high-profile squadand her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankarathe charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American interventionshe says yes. Yeseven though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yeseven though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sisterwhose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yeseven though a furious part of her suspects she’s being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent. In the year that followsMarie will observe Sankaraseduce himand ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spya lovera sisterand a good American. Inspired by true events—Thomas Sankara is known as “Africa’s Che Guevara”—American Spy knits together a gripping spy thrillera heartbreaking family dramaand a passionate romance. This is a face of the Cold War you’ve never seen beforeand it introduces a powerful new literary voice. NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize “Spy fiction plus allegoryand a splash of pan-Africanism. What could go wrong? As it happensvery little. Cleverbracingdarkly funnyand reallyreally good.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates “Inspired by real eventsthis espionage thriller ticks all the right boxesdelivering a sexually charged interrogation of both politics and race.”—Esquire “Echoing the stoic cynicism of Hurston and Ellisonand the verve of Conan DoyleAmerican Spy lays our complicities—politicalracialand sexual—bare. Packed with unforgettable charactersit’s a stunning booktimely as it is timeless.”—Paul BeattyMan Booker Prizewinning author of The Sellout