This provocative thriller, an uncompromisingly literate spy novel, is centered in Bonn--around 1983, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union--and features sharply rendered characters, including Richard Fisher, an agent for the British government passing himself off as a writer and historian, and former Wall Street banker Polina Mertz, the undercover U.S. operative who captivates him. Both are players in a complex web of political intrigue that turns upon the drive to push through an arms control agreement dubbed the "golden plough." Twisting along its startling course, Buchan's riveting tale should prove as mesmerizing to fans of the genre as Polina's destructive and formidable powers prove, in the end, to be for Richard. Alice Joyce

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