Stalemate

Stalemate is set during the bleak days of the Cold War following the British Intelligence debacle of the Cambridge Five. An old case - Operation Vesna - has resurfaced, purportedly linked, and photographic intelligence is vouchsafed through an external source to MI6 operative, Saul Mercer giving evidence of a long-term Soviet spy. Charles Rutherford, the Head of Operations, has ordered Mercer to break ranks and delve into a murky and elusive path of deception and murder to uncover the Soviet handler and his British agent.