A Teaser for 2023…

My next thriller, LETTER FROM ISTANBUL (Down & Out Books), is coming in 2023. If you’re planning on attending Bouchercon 2022, come see me for more info…

A.C. Frieden Interviewed on Crime Café Podcast

A.C. Frieden was honored to be the featured guest on the Crime Café podcast, hosted by author Debbi Mack. They spoke about Frieden’s research & writing, including his daring research trip to North Korea to write his latest thriller THE PYONGYANG OPTION. Click link below for the podcast:

https://youtu.be/mjmaj0BMijA

Advertisement

A.C. Frieden to participate in Bouchercon 2019

Just a teaser… Exciting details coming soon about my participation at this year’s Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Dallas, Texas (Oct. 31-Nov. 3). Stay tuned! #Bouchercon #ACFrieden #thriller #author #newbook #spynovel #downandoutbooks #writingcommunity

For details about Bouchercon, visit the event’s official website.

Thanks for Attending My Chicago Book Launch and Presentation on North Korea

Novelist A.C. Frieden Presents His Latest Book and Discusses North Korea with Jenna Gibson, Korea Columnist for The Diplomat Magazine.

Author A.C. Frieden presented his latest book, The Pyongyang Option, an espionage/political thriller set in the North Korean capital and that Kirkus Reviews calls “exhilarating…consistently unpredictable and entertaining.” As one of the few Western authors to have traveled to North Korea, Frieden shared photographs and his research experiences in that reclusive country.  Frieden was also joined by Jenna Gibson, the Korea Columnist for The Diplomat magazine, the premier international current-affairs periodical for the Asia-Pacific region.  Together, Frieden and Gibson helped demystify North Korea and its ruthless regime and shed light on the volatile US-North Korea relationship.

Click the following links to purchase The Pyongyang Option:

Amazon Kindle or paperback or other ebook formats

Signed paperback copies are available in Chicago (Centuries & Sleuths and After-Words Books) and in Washington, D.C. (Int’l Spy Museum)

To read the latest reviews, click here. Also, read the Kirkus Review.

Chicago Book Signing & Presentation on North Korea

Novelist A.C. Frieden Presents His Latest Book and Discusses North Korea with Jenna Gibson, Korea Columnist for The Diplomat Magazine.

Author A.C. Frieden will present his latest book, The Pyongyang Option, an espionage/political thriller set in the North Korean capital and that Kirkus Reviews calls “exhilarating…consistently unpredictable and entertaining.” As one of the few Western authors to have traveled to North Korea, Frieden will share his research experiences in that reclusive country.

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE

Frieden will be joined by Jenna Gibson, the Korea Columnist for The Diplomat magazine, the premier international current-affairs periodical for the Asia-Pacific region. Gibson is also the former Director of Communications at the Korea Economic Institute of America and earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She also lived two years in Cheonan, South Korea as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.

Together, Frieden and Gibson will help demystify North Korea and its ruthless regime and shed light on the volatile US-North Korea relationship. The event is free, with a reception following. A portion of the book sales will benefit the Swiss Benevolent Society of Chicago.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can purchase the book anytime at the bookstore or online

Praise about Frieden’s latest book:

“Fast-paced, engrossing…The Pyongyang Option excels in juxtaposing the personal and the political and holds a surprise conclusion that many readers won’t see coming.” –Midwest Book Review

“Frieden writes settings better than any thriller writer I know. From North Korea to Chernobyl to Ukraine and post-Katrina New Orleans, Frieden’s ability to add the most telling details to a scene cast a spell that kept me glued to the page.” –Libby Fischer Hellmann, author of the Jump Cut and War, Spies & Bobby Sox espionage thrillers

“Complex, multi-layered and impossible to put down.” –Reader’s Retreat

“A Molotov Cocktail of a thriller.” –Alex Shaw, bestselling author of the Aidan Snow thrillers

“The novel moves deftly across the globe…Most importantly, we experience North Korea. The isolation. The fear. The sense that everything is a façade, no one can be trusted, and the regime’s real power is the constant threat of death.” –Meredith Rankin Reviews

“A page-turner with its interesting premise, expertly paced narrative and high-action plot.” –The Prairies Book Review

“A masterfully-crafted, action-packed thriller that plunges readers into the intriguing depths of international espionage and a secretive regime.” –Francis Gary Powers, Jr., Founder of The Cold War Museum and author of Spy Pilot

5-Star Reviews for The Pyongyang Option

5-star praise is already coming in after the March 29 release of The Pyongyang Option.  Here is the latest by top reviewers and book bloggers Meredith Rankin’s Reviews and Reader’s Retreat by Lou and praise from other crime fiction authors:

“[I]t’s so eminently readable. The characters are believable, the plot well thought out and there are plenty of twists in the tale. Frieden creates a tension that is palpable and an ominous atmosphere which runs for the duration. This is a masterfully crafted international thriller which is complex, multi-layered and impossible to put down; I read it in a single, nail-biting sitting.” —Lou, Reader’s Retreat (click here for the full review)

“The novel moves deftly across the globe. It moves from conference rooms in Ukraine, hurricane-devastated New Orleans, the basement of an abandoned elementary school in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the picturesque Maldives, and others. Most importantly, we experience North Korea. The isolation. The fear. The sense that everything is a façade, no one can trusted, and the regime’s real power is the constant threat of death. As Jonathan puts it, ‘being alive in this hermit kingdom was a privilege, not a right’ (p.277)…Frieden has traveled to these locations, including North Korea (really!), and his research shows. He describes geography and circumstances in ways that only someone who’s experienced them first hand could. But he doesn’t allow the research to overwhelm the story. Everything propels the story forward.” —Meredith Rankin Reviews (click here for the full review)

Frieden has also received noteworthy comments from other authors, as follows:

“A.C. Frieden writes settings better than any thriller writer I know. From North Korea to Chernobyl to Ukraine and post-Katrina New Orleans, Frieden’s ability to add the most telling details to a scene cast a spell that kept me glued to the page. Set in the recent past, The Pyongyang Option is not just a compelling espionage thriller, but one that neatly foreshadows the shifting, murky alliances intelligence officers are grappling with today. Don’t miss it.” —Libby Fischer Hellmann, author of the Jump Cut and War, Spies & Bobby Sox espionage thrillers.

“Jonathan Brooks is the kind of character you’d follow anywhere. And A.C. Frieden serves up another delicious tangle of multi-layered suspense, international intrigue, regional flair, and heart-pounding action. A top-notch thriller.” —Lisa Towles, award-winning author of Choke and other books. Also check out Lisa’s interview with author A.C. Frieden.

“An unlikely hero, Chernobyl and a rogue state are the ingredients in this Molotov cocktail of a thriller.” —Alex Shaw, author of the Aidan Snow thriller series

“From the first mysterious chapter that segues into thrilling action, this book takes you on an international thrill ride…” —Frank Zafiro, author of CHARLIE-316

“Jonathan Brooks returns in a masterfully-crafted, action-packed thriller that plunges readers into the intriguing depths of international espionage and a secretive regime.” —Francis Gary Powers, Jr., Founder and Chairman Emeritus, The Cold War Museum and author of Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy

To purchase the paperback or ebook today, click here.

Ad link: www.acfrieden.com/img/N8AD021R.jpg

 

 

New Thriller Release Only a Week Away!

There’s only a week left until the launch of THE PYONGYANG OPTION, Book 3 in my Jonathan Brooks thriller series.  Select which version you would like: paperback (large), paperback (small), Kindle, Nook or other (Google Play, iTunes or Kobo)

For more book trailers and additional information on THE PYONGYANG OPTION and other titles in the Jonathan Brook series, click here.

The Pyongyang Option will be out in only two weeks!

My latest international spy thriller, The Pyongyang Option, will be released on March 29, 2019, by Down & Out Books and Avendia Publishing. As the third book in my acclaimed series featuring New Orleans maritime attorney Jonathan Brooks, this action-packed thriller takes readers on an intense journey through North Korea and Ukraine. To research this book, I became one of the few American authors allowed into North Korea, where he investigated sites in the capital, Pyongyang, the nation’s second largest city, Kaesong, and the communist portion of the DMZ. I also spent time investigating Chernobyl’s exclusion zone in Ukraine, including the abandoned city of Pripyat.

In The Pyongyang Option, attorney Jonathan Brooks is desperate to rebuild his law firm after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Short on clients, he takes the only work he can find: a business deal in Ukraine. But soon after he lands in Kyiv, his client’s executive vanishes. Suspecting foul play, Jonathan enlists the help of a U.S. diplomat. But the next day they are brutally ambushed by unknown assailants. Injured and racing against the clock, Jonathan embarks on a frantic search for clues through the back alleys of Kyiv to an abandoned town near Chernobyl. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s ex-wife Linda, a journalist, arrives in North Korea to report on historic nuclear disarmament talks. She begins probing local officials, not realizing that she and Jonathan are both on a collision course with a deadly web of hackers, spies and assassins. To uncover the truth and save them both, Jonathan may have only one option: to go to Pyongyang with as much leverage as possible and try to make it out alive.

Libby Fischer Hellmann, author of the Jump Cut and War, Spies & Bobby Sox espionage thrillers, says, “A.C. Frieden writes settings better than any thriller writer I know…The Pyongyang Option is not just a compelling espionage thriller, but one that neatly foreshadows the shifting, murky alliances intelligence officers are grappling with today,” and Frank Zafiro, author of CHARLIE-316, calls it “an international thrill ride with equal parts intrigue, politics, and blistering conflict.” Lisa Towles, award-winning author of Choke, says, “Frieden serves up another delicious tangle of multi-layered suspense, international intrigue, regional flair, and heart-pounding action.” And Alex Shaw, award-winning author of the Aidan Snow thrillers, says, “An unlikely hero, Chernobyl and a rogue state are the ingredients in this Molotov cocktail of a thriller.”

I plan a series of launch events, starting at suburban Chicago’s Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore on April 14 with fellow Down & Out Books crime authors T.G. Wolff, M. Todd Henderson and Trey R. Barker. Other 2019 book signings and events in the Midwest region, as well as in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., will be announced soon.

The Pyongyang Option is available now for pre-order in paperback (mass market ISBN: 9780974793429; trade ISBN: 978-0974793481) from Amazon.com and other retailers and eBook on Kindle (US and UK), Nook, Kobo, and iTunes, and thereafter both online and at independent booksellers nationwide.

About the Author:

A.C. Frieden is an international author of mysteries and thrillers, including the acclaimed Jonathan Brooks espionage series (Down & Out Books; Avendia Publishing). Frieden is also an attorney, private pilot, PADI scuba instructor, martial artist, equestrian and former army sniper. He was born in Senegal and raised in India, Brazil, Switzerland and England before moving to the United States in his teens. Today, you ll often find him in a far-flung hotspot researching future books, like his recent investigative travels to North Korea, Russia, Cuba, China, Qatar and India. He has faced the chaos of a Central American coup, piloted small planes over the Andes and the Panama Canal, explored remote underwater sites in the Indian Ocean, surveyed the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant, followed the Che Guevara trail in Bolivia, tracked down drug traffickers in Paraguay, explored former Soviet missile bases, and much more across nearly 80 countries. Frieden is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and the Military Writers Society of America and participates regularly in literary events in the U.S. and Europe. He speaks French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and some Russian, and carries several passports.

A.C. Frieden is available for interviews, appearances, panel discussions and book signings. For inquiries, please contact us at media@avendiapublishing.com or eric@downandoutbooks.com, or you can reach the author directly at acfrieden@avendiapublishing.com

A Teaser for Spy Fiction Addicts…

Finally, three years behind schedule, my spy thriller THE PYONGYANG OPTION (Down & Out Books/Avendia Publ.) is coming March 29, 2019 in paperback and ebook.  It’s the third installment in the Jonathan Brooks thriller series.  Here’s the first teaser ad.  Enjoy!  More details forthcoming…

A New Ad

A new ad for my Jonathan Brooks spy thriller series…#spynovels #suspense #intrigue #espionage #novelist #ACFrieden #amwriting #books #reading #action pic.twitter.com/SeZTvZhZbH

— A.C. Frieden (@acfrieden) February 19, 2018