Kanon began his writing career in 1995. His first novel, "Los Alamos" (1997), became a bestseller and received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1998. Further novels followed, including "The Prodigal Spy", "The Good German" and "Alibi". His stories are set in the period between World War II and 1950, and he has often used a real event, such as the Potsdam Conference or the Manhattan Project, as the background for a murder case. His novels are critically acclaimed, and reviewers from the "Boston Globe" and "The New York Times" have compared his work with the novels of Graham Greene and John le Carré. A film based on "The Good German" was produced in 2006, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. "Istanbul Passage" is a spy thriller set in that city in 1945. "Leaving Berlin" (2015) concerns an American expatriate who becomes an unwilling double agent of the American and East German intelligence services during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949.