The Wolf of Sarajevo

by Matthew Palmer

Overview

A riveting novel of international suspense from acclaimed author and veteran diplomat Matthew Palmer.

Twenty years after the Srebrenica massacre that claimed the life of his friend and colleague, Eric Petrosian is back in Sarajevo at the American embassy, and the specter of war once again hangs over the Balkans. The Bosnian Serb leader, who had for a time been seeking a stable peace, has turned back to his nationalist roots and is threatening to pull Bosnia apart in a bloody struggle for control . . . and behind him is a shadowy mafia figure pulling the strings. As Eric is dragged deeper into the political maelstrom and uncovers a plot of blackmail and ruthless ambitions, Eric is faced with an impossible choice: use the information he’s uncovered to achieve atonement for the past or use it to shape the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399175015
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/24/2016
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Matthew Palmer is a twenty-five-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, currently serving as the director for multilateral affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Asian and Pacific Affairs.  Palmer has worked as a diplomat all over the world, but his ties to the Balkans are especially deep.  In addition to a serving as the desk officer for rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) through the end of the 1999 Kosovo conflict, Palmer was posted twice to the American Embassy in Belgrade, initially as a first-tour officer at the height of the war in Bosnia and, more recently, as political counselor.  In that position, he played a leading role in securing the “April 19 Agreement” that started Serbia and Kosovo down the road toward normalization.  Palmer speaks fluent Serbo-Croatian, and his many experiences in the region served as inspiration for The Wolf of Sarajevo.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Wolf of Sarajevo

"Thrilling....The aura of authenticity on the smaller scale helps lend gravity to plot twists .... Palmer...has a pungent style, particularly adept at showing what one character calls the ‘knee-jerk cowardice of bureaucracies.’”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“A gripping adventure… Fans of thrillers are sure to love this intricate and tense story, and fans of history will appreciate Palmer’s careful plotting.”—Bookish

“Meticulously crafted . . . Palmer’s 25 years in the U.S. Foreign Service serve him well in this suspenseful, briskly paced novel.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“A fast-paced, action-packed, well-plotted thriller that will more than satisfy espionage fiction fans.”—Library Journal
 
“Suspenseful . . . Well-written, exciting, and fast-paced fiction by a diplomat with deep knowledge of the Balkans.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Palmer’s first-hand knowledge of the Bosnian War means that this plot is spot on!”—Suspense Magazine

Praise for the novels of Matthew Palmer:

“A can’t-put-it-down thriller . . . Palmer’s 20 years in the U.S. Foreign Service helps infuse this book with authenticity.” —NPR.org

“Without question the best book I’ve read this year.” —Mystery Scene

“This is first-rate fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

2016-03-03
A suspenseful Balkans thriller by the author of The American Mission (2014). Twenty years after the Bosnian War, Eric Petrosian works for the U.S. State Department and is assigned to advise the ambassador to Bosnia. He couldn't stop the murders of his friend Meho Alimerovic and thousands of other men and boys in Srebrenica during that conflict, and he still feels guilty. Now, in this complex story, a second war is on the verge of breaking out in a country that's haunted by ghosts and toe tags. European Union diplomat Annika Sondergaard has a plan to stop this war before it starts, and Eric works to help her. Smart and humane, Eric is intensely aware of the genocide that has already occurred in the Balkans, one of the "great civilizational fault lines." On the other side are men like the sociopath Marko Barcelona, who knows that "money is power and power is money." Marko possesses a secret videotape showing the now politically powerful Zoran Dimitrovic shooting men in the back of the head in 1995—so Marko controls Zoran. Marko used to be "a worm…feeding on the droppings of his betters" but prefers being a wolf to a worm and a king to a wolf. And there is Darko Lukic, a talented sniper who loves to shoot children and pregnant women—and never misses, even from 2 kilometers away. He is "the god of death" for whom "killing from a distance was an act of worship." Time is running out for Eric to save Darko's next target, Annika, whose peace plan is the last, best chance to avoid another war. Well-written, exciting, and fast-paced fiction by a diplomat with deep knowledge of the Balkans.

Kirkus Reviews