Red Omega

The year is 1953. Stalin, seemingly secure in his reign of terror, has initiated a massive purge in response to the supposed Doctors' Plot. This is really a ploy to smoke out Omega, a western spy at the heart of the Kremlin. Stalin is determined, at any cost, to uncover Omega and destroy him.

David Kelland, handsome, charming and savagely ruthless, is a CIA operative working in the shadows who has a plan to protect Omega. An extremely dangerous plan. If it backfires then it could mean war between Russia and the United States. But he needs to find the right person to do the job.

There is only one man who has the capability, the strength - and the motivation: Joaquín Cabeza, El Duro, the indomitable republican peasant general of the Spanish Civil War.

Cabeza fled Franco's fascist Spain to Russia, where he was received as a hero. But it wasn't long before his criticism of Stalin's communism caused him to be disgraced, tortured and finally flung into a Siberian labour camp. But against all odds he escaped. Now Kelland needs to persuade him to go back to Russia - against his will.

Gail Lessing is Kelland's agent chosen to accompany Cabeza to Moscow. Attractive, multilingual and with a need to redress past mistakes, she is coldly and cynically exploited by Kelland to achieve his goals.

But there is one small complication: Gail falls in love with Cabeza.

And then there is one larger complication: Kelland has no intention of letting Cabeza return from Moscow alive.

Red Omega is a powerful story of cold-war intrigue, espionage and betrayal. It is also a story of the love between a great man and a woman in search of her own strength. And, above all, it's a fascinating interpretation of historical events - a blend of fact and fiction that's as stunning as it is believable.

Red Omega is a superb, fast-moving thriller, packed with action, excitement and tension right up to the last page. One of the very best of its genre.