Born in Guildford, Surrey, on November 25, 1941, the son of two literary figures, Gerald Seymour now lives in the West Country. He joined ITN in 1963, covering The Great Train Robbery, Vietnam, Ireland, the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany's Red Army, Italy's Red Brigade, and Palestinian groups. Harry's Game, was his first book, published in 1975, to great acclaim. Mr Seymour then gave up reporting. Television adaptations have been made of Harry's Game, The Glory Boys, The Contract, Red Fox, Field Of Blood and The Waiting Time. Writing comes fourth in his list of priorities, after dog walking, float fishing and watching the local rugby team.

Officially the Cold War is over. In private, though, the intelligence war goes on. A high-ranking Russian naval officer, Viktor Archenko, has been passing valuable information to MI6, but when suspicion falls on him, the time has come to get him out and more rides on this than one man's life.