Using his extensive knowledge of the secret

operations of World War II, Joseph Persico,

author of the much acclaimed Piercing the

Reich, gives us a novel based upon a startling

fact. It is that of "Operation Bernhard" the

Nazi attempt to undermine the British econ-

omy by flooding the world markets with

counterfeit five-pound notes. "Bernhard"

employed master Jewish photoengravers im-

prisoned in concentration camps to produce

perfect countertfeits. In exchange for their

labors, the photoeigravers were guaranteed

survival.

The fiction of THE SPIDERWEB is launched

after the war when the plates from which the

counterfeit notes were made are hidden by

the Nazis, who intend to use them to finance

the organization dedicated to spiriting Nazis to South America, whence they will reestab-

lish the Reich. British, American, Russian,

and Nazi operatives begin a frantic and deadly

search for the prize.,

It is a courageous American secret service

agent and a beautiful Cerman woman who

are the emotional center of the tale, as they

struggle to retrieve the plates and save their

own lives from the desperate gangs who pur-

sue them. Set against a vivid background of

cold-war Europe, by an author,whose knowl-

edge of that period is unparalleled, THE

SPlDERWEB brings first-rate adventure and

suspense.