The Content Assignment

"An astonishing book: don't miss it." — The Boston Globe

On a rainy night in postwar Berlin, British journalist John Terrant encounters Ellen Content, a young civilian typist in the American Army's office of information. Their romance quickly blossoms, but as soon as Terrant realizes that Content is a spy, she abruptly vanishes into the divided city's treacherous maze of ruined streets. Terrant's anguished inquiries receive only bland assurances from the authorities that Content will contact him when her job is finished.
Two years later, Terrant's compulsively close reading of newspapers uncovers his first clue since Content's disappearance: her name appears in a list of passengers recently embarked on an ocean liner headed from London to New York. Within a few hours, the reporter is headed for the United States, despite dire warnings from the CIA and Scotland Yard to desist in his pursuit. After long months of inactivity, suddenly every minute counts as Terrant races to solve the mystery, find his lover, and avoid becoming the latest victim in a string of killings.   

"Definitely exciting." — The Observer

Holly Roth (1916–64), who also wrote as K. G. Ballard and P. J. Merrill, worked as a model before moving on to writing for newspapers and magazines and eventually becoming a prolific author of crime novels. She died under mysterious circumstances while sailing the Mediterranean, falling overboard from a small yacht; her body was never recovered.