Date first published	1982
ISBN Number	0 586 05276 3
Page Count	637 p/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Michael Havelock, is a member of Consular Operations, and one of their best operatives. His long time love is also in the spying game. However it comes to light that she is a member of one the European terrorist gangs, and her execution is sanctioned on a beach on the Costa Brava. Michael goes to the beach to watch her death as the officer of the record.

Following Jennas death, Havelock decides that he can no longer continue the life he has led, and so 'retires' from the service, and takes a holiday in Europe to all those places he has been to but never seen except under the cover of darkness. He travels ot Italy which is in the grip of strikes and on a whim takes a trip to Rome. Where he sees Jenna. He runs towards her but she runs from him in terror, and so the madness begins.

Michael reports his sighting to Consular Operations, and based on his information, they decide that he has lost grip, and that he must either be brought in or terminated. The operation to capture Havelock goes wrong, and the hunt is on.

Michael tracks down Jenna, and gets to talk to her, and find that she has been led to believe that he is KGB, and will do anything to kill her, which is why she runs. The two of them then set about tracking the men that set up the Costa Brava operation, but find that all are long dead, or very recently dead. Michael decides to speak to his mentor Secretary Of State Anthony Matthias.

The problem is Matthias has disappeared, and it is at this point the story takes a new twist, as Havelock tries to stop a Russian Sleeper from taking plans of a nuclear holocaust back to Moscow. After a meeting with the President of the United States, Havelock finally learns the truth about Costa Brava, and why it was necessary. Can Havelock stop World War III?

Review

As with many of Ludlums earlier books, the story is based around a good man being made the centre of all things bad, usually by his own organisation. The reason in this case, the analysts in Washington, not believing that Havelocks girlfriend is alive, taking the easy option that he is delusional. The story moves around the centre of Europe initially with various meetings both open and covert. A strong part of the early story is with Havelock tracking down his target. Unlike modern books Havelock has to work at finding leads to Jenna. A modern (unedifying) tendency is for the lead character to come across his target by accident. This does happen initially but it is the event which sparks off the whole book. Havelock has decided to go to Rome on a whim. Jenna meanwhile has been spooked in her hiding place and is on the run. They literally bump into each other at the rail station. It was well plotted and executed.

The linking theme is Costa Brava, where Havelock believes he has watched the death of Jenna, who he believes to be a member of the KGB. However all of this is a lie, created by a third party that wants Havelock out of the way, but can't bear to have him killed. The story then spirals its way to the main protagonist - Parsifal. A name that is not mentioned until well into the middle of the book. Who and what Parsifal is I will leave you to find out. The story is one basically of sleeper agents, in some ways similar to the Holcroft Covenant with children being shipped to secret destinations to come to power, and then take the country over.

Once again a well written story, with strong characters, and the strong female lead again. The story relies more on deductive reasoning with slightly less violence than some other stories - don't get me wrong the death toll is high, but the violence is more muted.

One thing that I didn't like about the book is Ludlums switch between the English and Czech forms of Michaels first name, and the constant switch between English and Czech at other points. I don't know about you, but my knowledge of Czech is none existent, and so you are left with chunks of narrative that you can't understand. Even Google let me down on this occasion.

Apart from that one smallish gripe, I liked the book, the characterisation and plotline, it stands well above later efforts.

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