"A John Russell thriller" --Cover.

Berlin, 1948. Still occupied by the four Allied powers and largely in ruins, the city has become the cockpit of a new Cold War. The legacies of the war have become entangled in the new Soviet-American conflict, creating a world of bizarre and fleeting loyalties -- a paradise for spies. As spring unfolds, a Western withdrawal appears increasingly likely. Berlin's German inhabitants live in fear of the Soviet forces who occupy half the city, and whose legacy of violence has ripped apart many families.