A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped, and a secretBritish intelligence agency has just recruited Deighton's iconic unnamedprotagonist--later christened Harry Palmer--to find out why. His search begins ina grimy Soho club and brings him to the other side of the world. When he endsup amongst the Soviets in Beirut, what seemed a straightforward mission turnsinto something far more sinister.

With its sardonic, cool, working-class hero, Len Deighton'ssensational debut and first bestseller The IPCRESS File broke the moldof thriller writing and became the defining novel of 1960s London.