British Intelligence fear that a journalistic investigation into their collaboration with war criminals during and after World War Two will cause a political scandal.

Mallory, one of their bright young men, is given the task of digging up the dirt before the press do.

What he uncovers in Holland and Germany is a web of deceit, betrayal and cold-blooded murder. But can he prove it to his bosses when the only person who has all the answers does not want to be found?

''The most consistently inventive of our novelists of espionage, the one that other thriller writers point to as the finest craftsman among them.'' - The Guardian