In the chill of the Cold War, two Norwegians are shot dead after straying into Soviet wilderness, killings that will bind together three people in a web of treachery and passion:

Halvard Starheim, veteran explorer, torn by the deaths of his friends and his love for a beautiful woman,

Ragna Johansen, the exquisitely attractive widow of one of the dead men on a desperate search for love and fulfilment,

Rolf Berg, brilliant Norwegian journalist whose secret other life holds the key to a deadly conspiracy.

The mission for the truth will lead them to a final confrontation in the freezing wastes of an Arctic wolf winter . . .

''A magnificent read. Move over Frederick Forsyth and Hammond Innes'' Sunday Telegraph

''The classically structured spy thriller has rarely been better done'' New York Times