The bespectacled spymaster is once more called from retirement to come to the aid of the 'Circus'--and he returns with a vengeance. The murder of an emigre Soviet General who was also a British agent, sends him digging into the past on a twisted trail across Europe that moves, inexorably, towards a final showdown with his old adversary, Karla of Moscow Centre.

A war story and a love story, as well as a biting satire on the emergence of the world we live in today.

History comes alive in the classic story of Britain's difficult withdrawal from India, which was accomplished through the skill and determination of the thoroughly blue-blooded Lord Louis Mountbatten.