Deep Blue

Description

From the author of Legacy, now a major BBC Film, comes a brilliant new novel for fans of le Carre, Graham Greene and Charles Cumming. During a time of political disruption and rising anti-nuclear sentiment, MI5 discovers that an extremist fringe group, Action Against Austerity, appears to have links to an established political party while planning sabotage using something or someone called Deep Blue. Banned from investigating British political parties, the head of MI5 seeks advice from Charles Thoroughgood, his opposite number in MI6. Agreeing to help unofficially with the case, Charles must delve deep into his own past, to an unresolved Cold War case linked to his private life. Using the past as key to the present, he soon finds himself in a race against time to prevent a plot which is politically nuclear ... Authoritative and packed with in-depth knowledge, Deep Blue is a gripping new spy thriller from a master of the genre. 'Judd infuses his writing with insider knowledge' New Statesman

Alan Judd is the author of eleven novels and two biographies. He previously served as a soldier in the British army and as a diplomat in the Foreign Office. Judd is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has won numerous awards including the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Heinemann Award. He currently writes for The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. He lives in Sussex with his family.

"This is a story that shows us how the nastiest regimes are composed of real people. Judd has taken some unlikely ingredients...and, brilliantly, fashioned them into a touching, poignant story." * Daily Telegraph (UK) * "A haunting tribute to a near-forgotten figure... Judd has complete command of the subtleties of character, ambition and emotional ambiguity in extreme circumstances-- an unusual and intelligent treatment of the Third Reich." * Evening Standard (Book of the Year) * "Judd's engrossing tale, rooted in actuality, teases out the mixed responses that can exist between, and within, people." * Sunday Times UK (Book of the Year) * "A fascinating and imaginative exploration of a seminal episode of 20th-century history." * Irish Examiner * "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 (UK) * "A highly accomplished novel [with an] intricate and superbly crafted plot. In a small compass, Judd manages to bring home the reality of the war with remarkable vividness. There is not a spare word here. If you start, you'll finish." * The Spectator * "Alan Judd has written a quite superb account about a vital point in world history, touched by all those issues common to us all: love, sex, doubt, courage, weakness and loyalty. What does a good man do when he finds that he is sworn to do evil? The Kaiser's Last Kiss is an extraordinarily fine book, rich in wisdom, and blessed with sparkling historical erudition." * The Irish Times *