Alex Gerlis has become a favorite writer of mine for spy novels, one who ranks right there with LeCarre. I won't attempt to reprise the plot, which, as in all good spy novels is convoluted and opaque. It has MI6, MI5, the BfV, Stasi, KGB, the Baader-Meinhof gang, Nazis, East Berlin, and assorted embassies, all nicely intertwined into a story with a very satisfactory ending.

There are also some delectable quotes. For example, "He became a Marxist, which is not an uncommon occurrence with the English middle class – one of our English agents told me it’s what happens to them in between losing their virginity and getting a mortgage." and in a satisfying snippet of cynicism, "‘You – we – are most fortunate,’ said the Assistant Director, ‘these days the press and indeed the public attribute any act of apparently political violence in West Germany to the Red Army Faction or the Baader-Meinhof Group, whatever one calls them. The West German press and their counterparts over here have already decided that what happened in Cologne and Bonn yesterday were acts of terrorism carried out by the Red Army Faction."

You may think the book gets off to a slow start, but rest assured everything will be nicely tied together. ( )