Francis Clifford is a pen name of Arthur Leonard Bell Thompson, an ex-soldier who fought in WW2.

Naked Runner (1966) is one the latter books in his career and according to the London Book Club it is the best novel he has written and "puts him immediately into the front rank of contemporary novelists of suspense".

The story itself is pretty solid set in the "present" of 1966 - Sam Laker gets asked to do a "simple favour" and deliver something when he's visiting Leipzig, East Germany (aka The German Democratic Republic). Naturally he's caught and his son is held hostage and he pressured by the East German Stasi to assassinate someone for them... he fails and his son is executed... and so the story moves onto a tale of revenge as he returns to East Germany. There's also a nice unexpected twist at the end, you think there's something going on and think you've got it worked out... but the truth is different than anticipated.

Quite enjoyable but definitely dated. ( )