“A thoughtful, beautifully written novel by Washington writer Frederick Reuss that tells the story of two men—a defense analyst and a mapmaker—and their struggle with the secrets that define them…. A Geography of Secrets has the texture and snap of a modern-day Graham Greene novel, painting a world in which even the smallest choices have devastating consequences—and where, as one character tells us, “Secrets don’t keep, they putrefy.” —The Washington Post

“An understated but masterly work for fans of cosmopolitan, contemplative,
contemporary prose.”—Library Journal

A lush, other-worldly feel permeates this philosophical novel based in Washington, D.C.  Author Frederick Reuss presents two tales that portray the human toll paid by the families of those who work in the shadows where espionage is practiced….He is extremely skillful at describing the essence of Washington D.C. which is full of historic meaning, vast institutions and seats of power.  It is there that people become ants swallowed up by the workings of government…unique and well drawn…Thought provoking. Highly recommended.”—Joseph’s Reviews

“Deeply evocative…often beautiful…will engage thoughtful readers with both the author’s characters and his ideas.”—Booklist

“Frederick Reuss has given us the quintessential novel of Washington DC in the age of remote imaging and predator drones. Writing with great psychological precision and a stunning command of Pentagon argot, Reuss explores the city’s ethos of professional secrecy and bureaucratic insulation, tracing its corrosive effect on our capacity for intimacy, self-knowledge, and an ethical way of being. By weaving two stories together, moreover, he’s able to address those same issues from a second, far more personal angle, and with surprising results. A Geography of Secrets is like a latter-day Graham Greene novel—intellectually satisfying, morally serious, and, just as important, compulsively readable.”

“As the diplomats in Graham Greene novels make clear, government middle-managers involved in life-and-death decisions suffer torments all their own, and Reuss has a gift for evoking the existential tensions that give Greene novels their intellectual heft. Reuss brings a few twists to that brand of anti-thriller, too. One’s formal: The novel’s braided structure alternates between Noel and an unnamed government cartographer investigating his late father’s experience as a Foreign Service officer….Another twist is technological: Each chapter includes longitude and latitude coordinates that, keyed into Google Maps, locate the setting of each scene.…Reuss is particularly skilled at describing the scrim of spook culture that coats the entire D.C. area, from Alger Hiss’ old haunts to the anonymous research hubs littering the landscape, and he convincingly lays out the Heller-esque bureaucracies that seem engineered to squash dissent…Faced with a structure so dehumanizing, Reuss argues, it’s no wonder we keep secrets—it’s a hobby of sorts, a way of taking the business of being our more human selves elsewhere.”