IPCRESS FILE

'A stone-cold Cold War classic' by one of the greatest fictional spymasters. A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped, and a secret British intelligence agency has just recruited Deighton's iconic unnamed protagonist, later christened Harry Palmer, to find out why. His search begins in a grimy Soho club and brings him to the other side of the world. When he ends up amongst the Soviets in Beirut, what seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister. With its sardonic cool, working-class hero, this sensational debut was a bestseller and broke the mould of thriller writing and became the defining novel of 1960s London. Very different from the film, here is the gritty realism of a working class protagonist on a paltry salary in a spy agency that doesn't do much spying and assignments that are rather tedious except for the rather prescient stuff on brainwashing and industrial espionage. 240pp, paperback reprint in a nicely designed set.