vienna
To Die in Vienna
To Die in Vienna
a.k.a Welcome to Vienna
a.k.a Welcome to Vienna
"To Die in Vienna" is Kevin Wignall's ninth novel. Freddie Makin is an American thirtysomething, a civilian surveillance contractor, who for the last year has been watching Jiang Cheng, a Chinese academic in Vienna. When Freddie returns home early one day, suffering a migraine, he interrupts a break-in at his apartment. The intruder escapes, but then comes back and tries to kill Freddie – this was no ordinary break-in, and from that moment on, Freddie’s a hunted man.
It’s clear he’s seen something he shouldn’t have seen, but he has no idea what it is, or who it is trying to kill him, or even who’s been employing him. When Cheng also disappears and Freddie gets the first indications that it might be the CIA trying to shut him down, things look desperate.
His only hope for survival is that they don’t know the whole truth about Freddie Makin either, or about the past he’s running away from…
“To Die in Vienna” was published worldwide in the English language in June 2018. A Bulgarian edition appeared in 2019. Film rights sold following a bidding war to Focus Features (part of Universal) as "Welcome to Vienna", with Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star and produce - the project was shelved during the 2020 pandemic. (Update, Jan '22 - a new film/TV deal has been agreed, more details to follow in due course.)
The book was well received with The Sunday Times suggesting it had "Echoes of The Third Man, as well as Hitchcock", and The Financial Times listing it among its best books of 2018.