A Russian actor on the KGB payroll... A middle aged wife with a fatal sense of guilt... A seductive Slav beauty, fuel for an ageing diplomat's sexual fantasies... A severely compromised British ambassador to Moscow who will return to Britain as the Prime Minister's personal advisor... Their shadowy dance has begun to a tune of betrayal, disillusionment and death, and a nation's fate hangs in the balance. 'A truly classic writer of espionage fiction' - Len Deighton