SNYOPSIS

There are two ways out of the spy game.Heads you run. Tails you die.

It starts and ends with a coin flip. In between, Good News, Bad News turns the rules of the spy game upside down with a story of intrigue and suspense that is chock-full of delicious surprises right up until the final spin.

First, there's the good news: George and Charlie are on their last posting for the Agency before retiring from the spy game. But in this business, the bad news is never far away. And in this case, the bad news could not be worse. In the blink of an eye, these two friends become lethal enemies—until it occurs to them that some orders just aren't meant to be followed. The two are catapulted into a gauntlet of international espionage to uncover secrets that lie in the heart of the Agency—secrets that no one wants them to find. Using their spy tools against their old masters, George and Charlie live on their wits, fight for answers—and soon realize that the only people they can trust are each other. But in a world where no one is to be trusted, how much can you trust a fellow spy?

Offering surprises on every page, pitch-perfect dialogue, and two unforgettable heroes, Good News, Bad News heralds the coming of the next great spy writer in David Wolstencroft.

Author Biography: David Wolstencroft is the multi-award-winning writer and creator of the BBC spy drama Spooks, which airs on the A&E network as MI-5. Good News, Bad News is his first book.

Publishers Weekly

"Wolstencroft takes a spy novel convention-the wrongly accused agent on the run from his own agency-and gives it a clever twist in this quirky, literate book: two British spies, each ordered to kill the other, go on the run together. Charlie Millar and George Shaw work in a tiny, two-man photo-developing station-but unbeknownst to the other, both work for the Secret Service. After George and Charlie save each other from being killed, though, the two cop to their real jobs, and shortly thereafter, each receives orders to kill the other. Thinking this must be another mistake, they attempt to straighten it out with their bosses and just miss getting blown up by a missile-firing motorcyclist. They flee London and, after many close escapes and twists and turns of the plot, eventually end up in Canada. Back at the Secret Service home office, upper-level manager Rose Willets and the mysterious agent Latham are involved in a secret mission called the Project, which relates to the Charlie and George imbroglio. Wolstencroft leaves his final pages open-ended, but readers will be so enthralled with his intelligence and breezy, amusing style they'll hardly notice a few minor ragged edges and inconsistencies. Agent, Jane Gelfman. (Sept.) FYI: Wolstencroft is the award-winning creator of the British TV spy series Spooks, known to American A&E viewers as MI-5. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information."