Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy

London: Jonathan Cape, 1976. 1st. hardback. Very good, 1st edition, unclipped d/j (good with small chip, in protective sleep); black boards (bumping on spine base), gold spine titling bright; space photograph on pastedowns; text block firm, pages crisp and unmarked (top edge blue).. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). A Soviet space scientist defects to win academic freedom, but western intelligence has other plans for him, and sends an unnamed spy - perhaps the same reluctant hero of The IPCRESS File - to look after him. But what follows is a blood-streaked trail across three continents... Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spy reveals a more mature Deighton exploring relationships between couples: professional rivals and private allies, spy and counter-spy, master and slave. Some are drawn together mutual comfort, others for exploitation. With an uncanny feeling for landscape, he begins his story in the awesome emptiness and remorseless heat of the Sahara desert. From there a trail of blood leads to Manhattan, Paris, Dublin and halfway back across Africa. In a narrative as compelling as it is tantalizing, Deighton surpasses all his previous triumphs and holds the reader spellbound to the very last page.