Beirut Station

Two Lives of a Spy: A Novel

Paul Vidich

A stunning new espionage novel by a master of the genre, Beirut Station follows a young female CIA officer whose mission to assassinate a high-level, Hezbollah terrorist reveals a dark truth that puts her life at risk.

Lebanon, 2006.

The Israel-Hezbollah war is tearing Beirut apart: bombs are raining down, residents are scrambling to evacuate, and the country is on the brink of chaos.

In the midst of this turmoil, the CIA and Mossad are targeting a reclusive Hezbollah terrorist, Najib Qassem. Najib is believed to be planning the assassination of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is coming to Beirut in ten days to broker a cease-fire. The spy agencies are running out of time to eliminate the threat.

They turn to a young Lebanese-American CIA agent. Analise comes up with the perfect plan: she has befriended Qassem's grandson as his English tutor, and will use this friendship to locate the terrorist and take him out. As the plan is put into action, though, Analise begins to suspect that Mossad has a motive of its own: exploiting the war’s chaos to eliminate a generation of Lebanese political leaders.

She alerts the agency but their response is for her to drop it. Analise is now the target and there is no one she can trust: not the CIA, not Mossad, and not the Lebanese government. And the one person she might have to trust—a reporter for the New York Times—might not be who he says he is…

A tightly-wound international thriller, Beirut Station is Paul Vidich's best novel to date.

Paul Vidich is the acclaimed author of An Honorable Man and The Good Assassin, and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, LitHub, CrimeReads, Fugue, The Nation, Narrative Magazine, Wordriot, and others. He lives in New York.

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Endorsements & Reviews

“With Beirut Station, Mr. Vidich has written his most emotionally involving and suspenseful book yet.” Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

“This is an outstanding thriller that has its roots sunk deep in a conflict that has shaped modern history.” Shots Magazine

“[Vidich] writes with an easy elegance about the ethical dilemmas of espionage and their human cost. Beirut Station is one of his best.” Financial Times

“Vidich has firmly established himself in the very top flight of espionage writers, with a series of slow-burn character studies putting him in the line of le Carré. In his latest novel, Beirut Station, he adds a shot of adrenaline into the mix, as his story follows a young Lebanese-American CIA agent involved in a joint operation with Mossad in Beirut 2006. She soon begins to suspect a deeper conspiracy in play, and when she voices her concerns, becomes a target herself. The interiority of Vidich’s characters is as complex as ever, but the meticulous operations work will keep you turning the pages and moving deeper into the chaos.” Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads

“In assessing the ‘best’ of the year lists that have come out so far, we determined that one of the areas of fiction that gets short shrift in these lists is spy/espionage fiction, so we determined to use our decades of reading and reviewing experience in this area to come up with the following list. 2023 is a great year for the publication of excellent spy fiction. If you are a fan of this type of entertainment, you are in for some real treats. Enjoy. George, Jeff and Steele.” Deadly Pleasures’ Best Espionage Fiction of 2023

"This well-plotted thriller deftly mixes spy craft with questions about identity and justice." The Christian Science Monitor, Top 10 Books of October

"Vidich’s oeuvre already solidifies his place in the genre. Readers unfamiliar with his work will be dazzled by his vision." Peter Handel, CrimeReads

"First and foremost it's a compelling story, one that gripped me from start to finish, but it also awakened in me a dormant interest in the complex politics of the Middle East." Mystery and Suspense Magazine

"There is plenty of death to avenge in this tense, fast-moving novel." Kirkus Reviews

“This taut, nuanced spy thriller centered on Lebanese American CIA agent Analise Assad further establishes Vidich as a new master of the genre. Vidich ably describes daily life in a war-torn setting and convincingly highlights the dangers Analise faces as a woman in her position. He brings the action to a satisfying conclusion. Fans of Eric Ambler, Graham Greene, and John le Carré will be eager for more.” Publishers Weekly