Book
The Looking Glass War
First published 1965
After a British courier is killed near the East German border, a neglected intelligence department persuades itself that Soviet missiles are being installed across the frontier. The department recruits Polish émigré Fred Leiser, a former wartime agent who has spent years outside operational service.
Leiser is sent into East Germany with poor preparation, obsolete equipment and unrealistic expectations. The novel follows the distance between bureaucratic ambition and field reality as rival British services protect their reputations while the agent absorbs the risk.
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