Set in 1960 at the peak of the cold war, the story turns on the smuggling of a vital manuscript out of Moscow. At dawn in Berlin, covert action officer Paul Christopher rendezvouses with the agent carrying the manuscript to the West. Minutes later, the courier is killed by a hit-and-run driver. And the questions begin. Who killed the courier, but, most of all, why?..The Secret Lovers deals with its subject, espionage, as the subject is in life: what motivates secret agents, what methods they use, what damage they do to themselves and to others. Intricate in design, authentic in detail, and breathtaking in its implications, it is a brilliant depiction of the moral struggle that results when scrupulous men and women perform unscrupulous acts in the service of their ideals.

"The Secret Lovers is a spy novel that transcends the genre -- a polished thriller, an intricate puzzle, a love story, and a first-rate novel." -- Tom Wicker.