THE FREEDOM TRAP by Bagley, Desmond

New York 1972, Doubleday, First US edition in dj, VG/VG- ( light wear to dj extremities, prev. owners name on frt free end paper ), 254 pages. At first, everything was simple. Rearden, like the careful, professional thief he was, would tap the mailman on the head-"just hard enough"-take the inconspicuous box of diamonds, pass it off to his boss around the corner, and become richer by 40,000 pounds sterling. Simple.Too simple. That robbery leads Rearden into prison and out again, into a tangled net of international intrigue and espionage, into the arms of his boss's beautiful but strangely dispassionate secretary, and into a nerve-wracking chase that reaches its climax aboard a fireworks-laden boat off the island of Malta.With taut, spare strokes, Desmond Bagley draws the reader into a perplexing world where little is predictable and less is safe. From its uncomplicated beginning to its explosive finish, THE FREEDOM TRAP is filled with the kind of fast, colorful and surprising action that has marked Desmond Bagley as a master in the suspense field. JACKET BY AL NAGY