Cover

Praise for Alan Judd

‘Fascinating . . . if one of the hallmarks of a good novel is that the characters do not remain static but are subtly transformed by events, then this is a very good novel indeed’

Sunday Telegraph

‘Credible, intriguing and admirably developed . . . a substantial and entertaining book’

Scotsman

‘Perhaps the best work of fiction about modern soldiering since the books of Leslie Thomas and David Lodge’

Evening Standard

‘Judd keeps plot and action centre-stage . . . he has written a novel perfect for brightening up a drizzly winter Sunday’

Mail on Sunday

‘Judd infuses his writing with insider knowledge’

New Statesman

‘Wonderful. One of the best spy novels ever’

Peter Hennessy on Legacy

‘He knows that world backwards and writes with an understanding of human frailty that is rare’

Sunday Express

‘This is a documentary novel that has the authentic feel of a race against time. It might be unwise to miss it’

New Fiction Society

‘A page-turner . . . This is a novel that bears reading carefully, savouring the historical detail and the use of tension that Judd employs’

The Historical Novel Society

‘Well constructed, witty and at times moving’

The Independent on Tango

‘Brilliant, original . . . the triumph of this novel is that it presents a picture of a man tortured by his own conscience and does it with verve, compassion and humour. I have absolutely no doubt that it will become a minor modern classic’

Books and Bookmen

‘Judd has complete command of the subtleties of character, ambition and emotional ambiguity’

Anne McElvoy on The Kaiser’s Last Kiss

‘Judd writes with a silky deadliness, a serious purpose evident beneath the comedy and the social satire’

British Book News

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Dedication

To Jo

Chapter One

Reflecting on it afterwards, it seemed to Charles Thoroughgood that the whole sad affair began with a wedding reception. The origins long pre-dated that, of course, germinating secretly in the characters and careers of the principal actors, but it was at that sunlit reception on the lawn of a large house in south-west London that it all began to unravel.