An explosive story of friendship and sacrifice in the depths of the Cold War era Connoisseurs of the literary spy thriller rank Robert Littell, the bestselling author of ''The Company,'' with John le Carre, Graham Greene, and Alan Furst in the first tier of the genre's pantheon. Set against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Prague, ''The October Circle'' is one of Littell's most riveting early works. Seven of Bulgaria's cultural elite-all disillusioned communists-and one American drifter find themselves staging an extremely dangerous protest that will set off a wave of repression and threatens to repay their heroism with death.