A gripping espionage thriller about an establishment plot to take control of 1970s Britain, by a writer who is ''poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carre''

''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

March, 1976. A secret plot unfolds on both sides of the Atlantic to remove the British prime minister from power.

1947: As a hungry Britain freezes through a harsh winter, a young cabinet minister makes a deal with Moscow, trading jet engines for grain and wood.

1951: William Catesby executes a Nazi war criminal in the ruins of a U-boat bunker. The German turns out be a CIA asset.

Both men have made powerful enemies in Washington, and their fates become entwined as one rises through MI6 and the other to Downing Street. Now the ghosts of the past are returning to haunt them. A coup d''état is imminent, and only Catesby stands in its way.

''A fantastic read'' Culture Matters

''Le Carré fans will find a lot to like'' Publishers Weekly

''The best espionage story you''ll read this year or any other'' Crime Review

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

''All too often, amid the glitzy gadgetry of the spy thriller, all the fast cars and sexual adventures, we lose sight of the essential seriousness of what is at stake. John le Carré reminds us, often, and so does Edward Wilson'' Independent