The Partisan

“Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent—incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre.”—New York Timesbestselling author Lee Child

“Dr. Zhivago meets James Bond in [this] ambitious debut. . . . Fans of intricate Cold War–era spy thrillers will be enthralled.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review 

Summer 1961: The brutal Cold War between East and West is becoming ever more perilous. Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they’re about to compete in the deadliest game ever played. Shadowing them is Greta, a ruthless Lithuanian resistance fighter who is hunting down some of the most dangerous men in the world. Men who are also on the radar of Vassily, perhaps the USSR's greatest spymaster. A man of cunning and influence, Vassily is Yulia's minder during her visit to the West, but even he could not foresee the consequences of her meeting Michael. When the world is accelerating towards an inevitable and catastrophic conflict, what can just four people do to prevent it?

Epic in scope, The Partisan is a page-turning thrill ride that takes readers from the hallowed halls of Cambridge to the grimy depths of the Moscow underworld, from 1960s London to the Eastern Front during the Second World War.Perfect for fans of Lee Child books and Robert Harris spy novels, and chess novels and series like The Queen's Gambit.

Patrick Worrall was educated in Worcestershire and King’s College, Cambridge, UK. He has worked as a teacher in Eastern Europe and Asia, a newspaper journalist, a court reporter at the Old Bailey, and the head of Channel 4 News's FactCheck blog. The Partisan is his first novel.