Guest Post & Excerpt: Eyes to Deceit (The Company Files #4) by Gabriel Valjan
- Archaeolibrarian
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
Book Details:
Genre: Literary Noir, Historical Fiction, Classic Spy Fiction
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: November 4, 2025
Number of Pages: 212 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9798898200510, Paperback
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Espionage is easy. Living with it isn’t.
The Company named it Operation Ajax. MI6 labeled it Boot. History would call it a coup.
Walker calls it the beginning of the end.
1953. The Company is orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s elected leader—an operation cloaked in propaganda and alliances. In Rome, Walker is stationed with Leslie, former M16 and now Company agent, and tasked to coordinate efforts between the US and UK. But when resources on the ground become a liability, Walker is forced to make a difficult decision—one that threatens to unravel what’s left of his conscience.
As the coup’s first attempt crumbles and Washington grows desperate, old loyalties shift. Allen Dulles wants results. Kim Roosevelt wants glory. Darbyshire feels left out. And Walker begins to suspect he’s not there to help win the Cold War, but to prove he can stomach it.
From Missouri to Rome to the Catskills to Tehran, EYES TO DECEIT explores postwar American idealism—and the spies who find themselves too loyal, too late, to walk away clean.
For readers of le Carré, Furst, Kanon, and Vidich this is espionage at its most personal—and most perilous.
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Tania moved fast, her shoes clicked sharply on the floor. She fished a five-dollar bill from her clutch and approached a housekeeper in the hallway.
“A roll of toilet paper, and in a discreet bag, please.”
The woman hesitated, but Tania’s eyes were steady, unblinking. She slid the bill into the woman’s shoulder strap with practiced ease.
“Take it,” Tania said softly. “In case someone accuses you of theft.”
The woman nodded.
Ruth led the way. Tania followed, her mind already ahead, calculating the next move. In the bathroom, she locked the door and leaned against the wall. She heard Judith’s groans.
“It’s me, Judy.”
“Tania?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
The air was thick with sweat and nausea, sharp like unchanged hospital linens. Tania handed Ruth the roll of paper and a small perfume atomizer.
“Tell her it’s from London. She’ll like it.”
Ruth nodded and slipped into the stall.
Tania stepped back into the hallway, then stopped. A girl sick and humiliated in a stall behind her. She caught her reflection in a wall sconce—lipstick fine, hair in place, eyes clear.
Decide now.
This wasn’t strategy. She wasn’t gaining leverage. And still, her feet moved.
When she returned, Judith was pale, shaken, but upright. Tania offered her the drink.
“Peppermint helps nausea,” she said.
Judith studied her. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing.”
“There’s no game,” Tania said. “You have to believe me.”
Judith hesitated. “You and your uncle seem awfully interested in my father.”
Tania unwrapped a mint. “It’s a secret,” she said. “Just not the kind you think.”
She leaned in. “The government wants something your father owns or controls. Sheldon’s the go-between.”
Judith stared at her. “That sounds shady.”
“It might be.”
Judith exhaled. “They spiked my drink. Esther and those girls. Laxatives.”
Tania nodded. “Brutal.”
Silence settled between them.
Tania met her eyes.
“Want revenge?”
Judith smiled.
And didn’t say no.
The Seduction of Intelligence: Crafting Power in Historical Noir
When I write, I often think less about plot and more about language as manipulation. In historical noir—stories of spiesand quiet conspiracies—dialogue, description, and even small objects become crucibles for power.
In my third chapter in my novel EYES TO DECEITon the 1953 Iranian coup, I worked to make Allen Dulles’ threat palpable—not through guns or violence, but through control, subtlety, and the seductive presentation of intelligence.
Power Speaks First
The moment my protagonist Walker enters the building, authority asserts itself:
“The express elevators behind you will take you to the thirty-sixth floor. When you get there, take a right.”
Walker never asks the question—the building already knows why he’s there. This tiny interaction establishes hierarchy, tension, and foreboding without exposition. In espionage fiction, power is most convincing when it speaks first and softly.
What a Character Notices
Once inside Dulles’ office, description becomes psychological insight:
“A small mail tube. Mugs. Rubber stamps for something official. Ink pads. A vending machine for cigarettes.”
These are not mere props. They reflect Walker’s trained attention and the quiet calculus of a spy. By showing what he notices—and equally, what’s missing—I turn ordinary bureaucracy into an instrument of tension. In noir, survival depends on perception, and selective noticing conveys both intelligence and unease.
Dialogue as Dominance
Dulles’ dialogue rarely seeks information. Instead, it frames and reshapes reality:
“Always be suspicious of praise.”
“Don’t let the word propaganda sour your palate—it’s just truth in a different suit.”
Polished, aphoristic, and disarmingly pleasant, these lines rename morality under Walker’s gaze. The charm is the threat. In political noir, villains need not raise guns—they subtly bend the world to their language.
Symbolism Without Explanation
Objects like the chessboard and a crisp dollar bill carry thematic weight:
“The game of chess is excellent for learning about your opponent and yourself.”
“This, Walker, is the future…a country that, with the right leadership, will outlast even the pyramids of Egypt.”
Chess becomes a duel of intellect; the dollar bill embodies ideology and ambition. Abstract concepts—power, coups, national destiny—are made tangible, drawing both Walker and the reader into admiration and unease. Intelligence becomes seductive, and menace is polite but inevitable.
The Quietest Violence
The chapter ends on policy rather than guns:
“On paper, we seek oil from Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. In reality…A coup.”
No explosions, no overt threats. Just the quiet inevitability of systemic power. In political noir, the most chilling forces are administrative and bureaucratic, not sensational.
Gabriel Valjan is the author of The Company Files, and the Shane Cleary Mysteries with Level Best Books. He has been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Silver Falchion awards. He received the 2021 Macavity Award for Best Short Story, and the Shamus Award for Best PI in 2023. Gabriel is a member of the Historical Novel Society, ITW, MWA, and Sisters in Crime. He lives in Boston and answers to a tuxedo cat named Munchkin.
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Thanks so much for the fun and interesting guest post!!