Cold Sunset by William Boyd: Where the New Gabriel Dax Thriller Fits

William Boyd’s Cold Sunset is the third Gabriel Dax novel, following Gabriel’s Moon and The Predicament. Atlantic Crime published the U.S. hardcover on November 3, 2026. If you’re new to the series, start with Gabriel’s Moon. The mission in Cold Sunset is easy to grasp on its own, but the earlier books explain why a travel writer keeps saying yes when an MI6 handler asks him to risk his life.

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Gabriel Dax books in order

1. Gabriel’s Moon (2024)

Gabriel Dax already has a reason to ask questions for a living. He’s a travel writer, and an opportunity to interview Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba puts him in the path of people with a stake in what he learns. The novel also introduces Faith Green, the MI6 handler who recruits him, and a mystery closer to home involving the fire that killed his mother. Start here for the relationship that carries across all three books and for a sense of the life Gabriel keeps trying to return to.

Start with Gabriel’s first encounter with Cold War espionage. Find Gabriel’s Moon on Amazon.

2. The Predicament (2025)

In 1963, Faith sends Gabriel to Guatemala to assess the fallout from a presidential election. His hope of returning to ordinary travel writing fades when she gives him another job in West Berlin ahead of Kennedy’s visit. This is the bridge to Cold Sunset: the assignments change, but the second book shows how quickly Faith can pull him back into her orbit when he thinks a job is over.

Follow Gabriel from Guatemala to West Berlin. Find The Predicament on Amazon.

3. Cold Sunset (2026)

In Moscow in 1964, Gabriel’s assignment sounds straightforward. He has a drawing to deliver to Kit Caldwell, a celebrated defector and triple agent. Caldwell believes the KGB suspects him of betrayal and asks Gabriel to get him to Finland. When Faith orders Gabriel to help, a man who expected to hand over a piece of art has to work out how to move a person across a guarded border.

That change in the assignment is the draw. A courier can finish a job without deciding whether the recipient deserves his trust. An escape plan forces Gabriel to make that judgment, and Caldwell’s experience changing sides makes him a particularly difficult man to take at his word.

Continue with Gabriel’s Moscow assignment. Find Cold Sunset on Amazon.

Can you read Cold Sunset first?

Yes, if the Moscow escape is what drew you in. The setup gives you a concrete problem to follow: Caldwell wants out, Faith wants Gabriel to help, and Gabriel has to decide how much to trust either of them. Reading in order gives Faith’s request more weight. In Gabriel’s Moon, she’s the person who opens a door into espionage. By the time she gives orders in Cold Sunset, you’ve seen what happens when Gabriel tries to walk back through it.

If you’ve already read Gabriel’s Moon, go to The Predicament next. If you’ve read both earlier books, you can go straight into Cold Sunset. The detail worth remembering is how often Gabriel expects an assignment to be his last.

Cold Sunset release date and edition details

The U.S. hardcover was published November 3, 2026, by Atlantic Crime. It runs 272 pages and has ISBN 978-0-8021-6831-3. Penguin lists September 3, 2026, for its UK ebook, which explains why you may see an earlier date attached to the title.

For the real history behind other Cold War spy stories, see our guide to Ben Macintyre’s books and where to start.

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