HarperCollins Australia acquires ‘The Compromised’ by Sam Guthrie
HarperCollins Australia is thrilled to announce it has acquired ANZ rights in a debut novel, The Compromised by Sam Guthrie. Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at HarperCollins Australia acquired the book from Tom Gilliatt at a4 Literary. UK rights were pre-empted by Harper Collins UK in a separate deal negotiated by Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown UK on behalf of a4 Literary.
The Diplomat meets House of Cards in this propulsive espionage thriller set across Canberra, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, his best friend and a rising star of Australia’s parliament. Friends since school, they’ve always had each other’s back. But then a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian’s ear and he does the unthinkable. As Charlie tries to piece it all together – from their youth spent in Hong Kong to the recent past in Beijing and Washington – things in the outside world start to fall apart too. Planes can’t land, the phone lines go down and the power is out. Then the secret intelligence services comes knocking. Charlie wonders, what the hell did Sebastian do?
‘Now I’ll tell you what happened, as best I can. No spin. No agenda. If I get something wrong, it’s not because I’m being evasive or trying to protect Sebastian. It’s simply because I’m still trying to understand what happened today … It’s to explain, as best I can, what Sebastian has done, and why tomorrow when you wake up, it will be the end of the world.’
Catherine Milne says: ‘From its extraordinary explosive opening chapter to the brutal, stark and emotional last pages, The Compromised swept me away; I finished the novel spent and wrung out, and once I got my breath back, I thought, I just have to publish this. As a diplomat’s daughter who spent my vacations in places like Saigon, Hong Kong, Beijing and New Delhi, I am absolutely steeped in this genre, loving the work of the masters of the dark art of the spy thriller: John le Carré, Len Deighton, Ross Thomas, Ben Macintyre, Charles Cumming, Henry Porter, Mick Herron … the list goes on. The Compromised is right up there in their company: a powerfully taut, gripping and fast-moving international thriller, reflecting an extraordinary inside knowledge of China, the realities of global power and the inner dealings of the Australian Government. It has the authenticity and moral complexity of a Le Carré novel and the narrative power of an Australian Robert Harris, and I am thrilled to be publishing it.’
Sam Guthrie says: ‘My aim with The Compromised was to write a character-driven political thriller that explores the all-too-human desires and frailties that shape world-altering events, and to bring readers up close to the machinations of power, political intrigue and the geostrategic challenges confronting the global order. I poured into The Compromised the sights, sounds and settings I know so intimately after twenty-five years working at the nexus of public affairs, diplomacy and international trade, and I am thrilled to be publishing it with the incredible team at HarperCollins Australia. Their generosity and passionate support have been overwhelming.’
HarperCollins will publish The Compromised in July 2025.