The Darkling Spy

The Darkling Spy - William Catesby

1st paperback ed

Paperback (21 Apr 2011)

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Includes delivery to the United States

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Publisher's Synopsis

A spy thriller that will change your view of the Cold War forever, by a former special forces officer and 'the thinking person's John le Carre'

'The thinking person's John le Carré' Tribune

'Edward Wilson seems poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carré' Irish Independent


'More George Smiley than James Bond, Catesby will delight those readers looking for less blood and more intelligence in their spy thrillers' Publishers Weekly

London, 1956. A generation of British spies are haunted by the ghosts of friends turned traitor.

Henry Bone, a Mandarin spymaster, learns that Butterfly is the Holy Grail of Cold War Intelligence. In reality, he is an aristocratic pervert whose political tastes are as ugly as his sexual preferences. But worst of all for some, Butterfly can identify each traitor ghost and every serving British spy who helped them.

Catesby, a spy with his reputation in tatters, is pressured to become a fake defector in order to track down Butterfly. Catesby's quest leads him from Berlin, through a shower of Molotov cocktails in Budapest and finally to dinner alone with the East German espionage legend, Mischa Wolf. The novel's shocking conclusion will change the reader's view of the Cold War forever.

'Smart, finely written' Publishers Weekly Starred Review

'All you could want in a spy thriller' Oliver James

Praise for Edward Wilson:

'Stylistically sophisticated . . . Wilson knows how to hold the reader's attention' W.G. Sebald

'A reader is really privileged to come across something like this' Alan Sillitoe

Book information

ISBN: 9781906413873
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Imprint: Arcadia Books
Pub date:
Edition: 1st paperback ed
DEWEY: 823.92
DEWEY edition: 22
Language: English
Number of pages: 287
Weight: 270g
Height: 197mm
Width: 135mm
Spine width: 20mm