Penguin Michael Joseph a publishing division of Penguin Random House has acquired two novels by award-winning thriller writer Simon Conway, including American Carnage, a tightly plotted standalone about the race to prevent a devastating attack on US soil.
Publishing director Rowland White secured world all-language rights from Euan Thorneycroft at AM Heath Literary Agency. American Carnage is scheduled for publication in August 2026, with a new series set to follow.
Simon Conway combines the best elements of character-driven espionage fiction, the inside knowledge of someone who has operated in the sketchy parts of the world and pulsating action you can feel in your guts.
Tim Shipman
Award-winning journalist and Spybrary Advisory Board Member
Conway, formerly published by Hodder & Stoughton, is best known for the Jude Lyon and Jonah Said series, as well as standalones Damaged, Rock Creek Park and The Agent Runner. He said: “This is where I’ve always wanted to be: with an iconic publisher that has global reach and honours imagination and independent thinking. Rowland White and I hit it off in our first conversation and I’m feeling crammed full of ideas for the future.”
White added: “It’s not often that a CWA Steel Dagger-winning author comes along and so I’m thrilled that Simon chose to make Penguin Michael Joseph his new home. American Carnage had me gripped from page one. And I’m no less excited about what Simon’s planning next.”
Tim Shipman, award-winning journalist and member of the Spybrary Advisory Board, welcomed the news: “We are lucky to be reading spy fiction from a generation of authors who are collectively as good as any that has been before. One of the very best has been missing for a while. Simon Conway combines the best elements of character-driven espionage fiction, the inside knowledge of someone who has operated in the sketchy parts of the world and pulsating action you can feel in your guts. I couldn’t be more delighted that he has a new publishing deal and we get more Conway. He is, as the man says, one of the premier crew.”
That man, of course, is Spybrary's Jason King, who told us, ‘I was lucky enough to discover Conway’s work some years ago when he won the CWA Ian Fleming Silver Dagger for ‘A Loyal Spy’. (2010) – it was and remains an extraordinary book. It was new, different and better. One of the best things I’d read since Len Deighton was in his pomp.
Not surprisingly I went onto read his back catalogue and everything he has done since.
News that he is back with ‘American Carnage’ has me in an advanced state of indecent excitement but I’m aware that he’s been off the stage for a while and many new SpyBrarians may not be aware of him. For them and everybody else who hasn’t, I would strongly suggest that they read his masterpiece, ‘The Agent Runner’. It’s one of my favourite books of all time. It’s a standalone and will serve as an excellent appetiser whilst we are waiting for his new work.
Tim Shipman is wholly correct – Simon Conway is ‘Premier Cru’
’ personified.
If you are new to Simon's work, then why not give this Simon Conway interview on Spybrary a listen? I bet you will be raiding his back catalogue in anticipation of his new books!
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