'Then Samantha said, "Personally, I think you are a doll . . . But Vulkan is a genius. Vulkan has a mind like a diamond while you have a mind like glass."
"Commercial diamond versus hand-cut glass," I said. "So I am typecast as the loser?"
"It's a one-horse race," said Samantha with finality.
The greatest tribute you can pay to a secret agent is to take him for a moron. All he has to do is to make sure he doesn't act too exactly like one. That was my concern now.'
In Berlin, where neither side of the wall is safe, Colonel Stok of Red Army Security is prepared to sell an important Russian scientist to the West - for a price. British intelligence are willing to pay, providing their own top secret agent is in Berlin to act as go-between. But it soon becomes apparent that behind the facade of an elaborate mock funeral lies a game of deadly manoeuvres and ruthless tactics. A game in which the blood-stained legacy of Nazi Germany is enmeshed in the intricate moves of cold war espionage . . .
Len Deighton's third novel has become a classic, as compelling and suspenseful now as when it first exploded onto the bestseller list.
