Berlin game

A defector working deep inside the Eastern Bloc has sent word that he is ready to leave, and the job of bringing him out falls to Bernard Samson. Samson once worked in the field himself, but he now spends his days behind a desk in London, so this rescue is a chance to return to active work.

The mission quickly turns into something more troubling. Samson begins to find signs that someone among his own colleagues is working against the service. Identifying the traitor means peeling back a tangle of deception, and the trail carries him between London and Berlin.

The novel is the first book of Len Deighton's Cold War spy trilogy featuring Bernard Samson, later collected as Game, Set and Match. It suits readers who enjoy tense, character-driven espionage set during the division of Europe.