It's 1958, and Cuba is a wildly popular tourist destination. Ernest Hemingway holds court in his home outside the capital; tail-finned and chromed cars cruise along Havana's Malecón; but talk of revolution is beginning to spill over into the cities, threatening the lucrative casinos and the tourist industry at large. Among the U.S. spy community, there is suspicion that Cuba-based CIA agent Toby Graham has grown sympathetic to Castro, a decidedly un-American move—especially when the CIA is clandestinely supporting Batista. They've been sending weapons his way, some of which are inexplicably showing up in the hands of Castro's rebels. Enter career academic George Mueller, the reluctant once-and-future spy hero of Paul Vidich's fast-paced novel The Good Assassin. He has known Toby since college, and if anyone can get to the bottom of this, it will be George. But does he really want to? After all, American policy vis-a-vis Cuba is notoriously corrupt, and Toby and George share a history of camaraderie and a mutual respect. Duplicity, intrigues within intrigues and a fat fistful of surprises abound in one of the best recent additions to the world of espionage fiction.

BEHIND NAZI LINES
The spy theme continues with William Christie's A Single Spy, a wickedly suspenseful novel of intelligence and counterintelligence, opening in 1936. The protagonist is Alexsi Smirnov, a Russian double agent with no real loyalty to anyone but himself. In all fairness, he should owe no allegiance to his handlers, who gave him the choice of prison or becoming a mole in prewar Nazi Germany. His cover is that of a high-ranking Nazi official's long-lost nephew, and in that guise he remains for seven years, until he is recruited by the Abwehr, the wartime German intelligence agency. This plays right into the Russians' schemes, never mind that it firmly places our hero in a no man's land that is equal parts chessboard and minefield. And then comes the Tehran Conference, where Allied leaders will gather to plot their next moves in the war, unless the Gestapo can count on Alexsi to pull off the Grand Troika of assassinations: three world leaders in one go. History, atmosphere and suspense—it's all here, and then some.

THE LEGACY OF AN OUTLAW
Retired lawman Bob Lee Swagger has had quite the career. G-Man is the 10th in Stephen Hunter's popular series, and nowadays Bob professes to be comfy resting on his laurels. His wife knows different. She doesn't want him to go back into law enforcement, but she has this crazy idea that he should write a book. He is at first dismissive of the notion, but when a strongbox full of his grandfather's possessions (a well-preserved .45 automatic, assorted memorabilia dating back to 1934 and cryptic directions to a unidentified treasure) is unearthed on the old family property, Bob has a starting point for a book. Or, if not a book, at least the sort of investigation that will get him out from under his wife's feet for a time. Bob knows very little about his grandfather, Charles Swagger; the man died before Bob was born, and Bob's father never talked much about the old man. The chapters alternate between the present day and Charles' cop work during the gangster era of 1930s Chicago. The tension is palpable, helped along by the shifting of time and two generations of Swaggers, in all their swaggering (and sometimes staggering) glory.

TOP PICK IN MYSTERY
The Thirst is the 11th installment in Jo Nesbø's award-winning and critically acclaimed suspense series featuring Oslo cop Harry Hole. It is, in many ways, a look back at Harry's One Failed Case. The one that got away. Every police detective has one story like this, and a modern-day wave of killings is certainly stirring up some frightening ghosts for Harry, as it bears striking similarities to his failed case that refuse to be ignored. The killer is high-tech, targeting users of the popular dating app Tinder (clearly an idea whose time has come).

With several of his demons at least momentarily at bay, Harry is married as happily as a recently tormented man can be, and life is more or less on an even keel. Except for the nightmares about the One Failed Case. Oh, and there is the small matter of his corrupt boss (and longtime nemesis), Mikael Bellman, who summons Harry to spearhead the Tinder murder investigation—not with any interest in solving the crimes, but rather to further Bellman's political aspirations. If you're looking for a straightforward police procedural, look elsewhere. Like the novels that preceded it, this installment is long on character development, atmosphere and nuance, but the path from the crime scene to the resolution is convoluted with a capital C. That said, the series has sold some 30 million books, so clearly Nesbø's style has been resonating with lots of folks since day one.

This article was originally published in the May 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Back in the swing after 2014's Police, tough Oslo detective Harry Hole tracks a serial killer targeting Tinder daters. Interestingly, the killer's MO matches that of Harry's archenemy. With a 100,000 first printing.

Oslo detective Harry Hole has two loves: alcohol and murder. Both have been somewhat controlled since he was transferred to the faculty of the police college. When a young lawyer is killed in her locked apartment by someone wearing iron teeth that tore her throat open, the press and populace are horrified. The ambitious police chief, with political prospects, blackmails Harry into returning to the murder squad. Several more bloody homicides make it clear there is a vampirist at work, but Harry manages to identify and kill him two-thirds of the way through this tale. Unfortunately, it is clear someone had been aiding and controlling the killer and might just replace him with another to taunt Harry "to come out and play." Harry's demons drive his private and professional life, but his unorthodox methods do get results. This 11th entry (after Police) in NesbØ's Scandinoir series features thoroughly developed characters, an intricate plot, and suspenseful twists, all hallmarks of a master storyteller. VERDICT With the film adaptation of NesbØ's The Snowman, starring Michael Fassbender as the iconic Norwegian detective, scheduled for release this October, reader interest is bound to grow. [See Prepub —Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Bestseller Nesbø's exceptional 11th Harry Hole novel (after 2013's Police) finds the alcoholic, demon-ridden, occasionally suicidal Oslo police detective in better shape than usual. Harry is "currently a sober lecturer at Police College." In the past, he often woke up full of angst; now he's consistently waking up feeling happy. As for his marriage to his great love, Rakel, "If he could have, he would have been more than happy to copy and paste the three years that had passed since the wedding and relive those days over and over again." Of course, this relatively blissful state can't last. Harry soon joins the hunt for a serial killer, whose MO—cutting the throats of his victims in vampire fashion—is similar to that of the one killer who escaped him and still invades his dreams. Meanwhile, Rakel slips into a mysterious coma. Nesbø depicts a heartbreakingly conflicted Harry, who both wants to forget the horrors he's trying to prevent and knows he has to remember them in all their grim detail. Author tour. 100,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Niclas Salomonsson, Salomonsson Agency (Sweden). (May)