The Alpha list

Childhood friends Dave Marsh and Charlie Kelly came up together in the backstreets of Birmingham. Their paths have since split: Charlie sits in Parliament as a Labour MP, while Dave works for British Intelligence. When whispers arise that Charlie has been feeding secrets to the Soviets, the job of looking into his former friend falls to Dave.

The evidence seems to point one way, and Dave appears close to a conclusion. Charlie, however, warns him that he has no idea how much is really happening around him, and that he has never even heard of the Alpha List. The book is an espionage thriller by Ted Allbeury, a British writer best known for his Cold War spy fiction.