If you’re a fan of Daniel Silva, John le Carre, or Jason Matthews, then mark your calendars and save the date because David McCloskey’s next spy thriller, The Seventh Floor, is set to hit bookstores on October 1, 2024.
McCloskey—a former CIA analyst who previously regularly wrote for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty—took the world of spy fiction by storm with his 2021 novel, Damascus Station. That book received high praise from former director of the CIA, General David Petraeus (“the best spy novel I have ever read”), along with #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr (“the most realistic and authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in the nonpermissive and hostile environments you will find in print.”), and even earned a rave review from People. Additionally, it was a finalist for ITW’s 2022 award for Best First Book and was chosen by the Financial Times as their pick for the “Best Summer Book of 2022.”
For his second act, McCloskey released Moscow X in 2023, this time with heavy hitters like Brad Thor and Gregg Hurwitz offering more praise and Publishers Weekly calling it “pitch-perfect.” Now, all eyes are on McCloskey again as he prepares to release his third novel, The Seventh Floor, the first book under a new, two-book deal the author (who is represented by Lisa Erbach Vance at the Aaron Priest Literary Agency) signed last year with W.W. Norton.
“The Seventh Floor is a molehunt story,” said McCloskey in an exclusive statement to The Real Book Spy. “A ‘whodunit’ in the tradition of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in which the CIA has been turned inside out by a highly placed Russian asset, and Artemis Procter must investigate close friends and cherished enemies alike in her quest to uncover the traitor’s identity. This book is the closest look yet at Procter’s checkered and salacious past. In addition to a deep dive in CIA counterespionage operations, readers should buckle up, because it also features CIA intramural baseball (including a nasty brawl) and a tour through Procter’s post-Agency work for central Florida’s third-largest alligator-themed amusement park.”
Check out the official plot details below.
A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat and run out of the service. Traded back in a spy swap, Sam appears at Procter’s doorstep months later with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole within the upper reaches of the CIA. As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter’s closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt requires Procter to dredge up her checkered past in the service of CIA, placing the pair in the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow’s mole in Langley at all costs.
David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst and consultant at McKinsey & Company. While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty. He worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East. During his time at McKinsey, David advised national security, aerospace, and transportation clients on a range of strategic and operational issues. David holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East. He lives in Texas with his wife and three children.
Readers excited to get their hands on The Seventh Floor can now pre-order David McCloskey’s highly-anticipated third novel here or anywhere else books are sold.
