At the height of the Cold War, a British intelligence agent investigates a Russian defector with a deadly secret

Adrian Dodds is a man without hobbies, friends, or family, who works a very peculiar job. Though he looks like a pencil pusher, he is a British counter-intelligence agent. In his own quiet, bureaucratic way, Dodds is vital to the security of the United Kingdom. His latest assignment is debriefing Viktor Pavel, a Soviet aeronautics genius who escapes his handlers to become the Cold War's most high-profile defector. Can he be trusted, or was he sent over as part of an elaborate Russian ruse? The truth is more complex than Dodds can imagine.

Based on years of experience covering foreign affairs for English newspapers, this is one of the first novels by Brian Freemantle, one of the finest espionage authors of the Cold War.

First published 1973.