Lord of the Swallows

"A high-tension, sexy, political thriller in which freelance CIA agent Malko Linge brings a project to his bosses that could blow open a ring of Russian spies operating in the United States. At a benefit dinner, Austrian playboy and CIA freelancer Malko Linge meets an intriguing woman, Zhanna Khrenkov, who has an unusual proposal. She will disclose everything she knows about her husband Alexei's business if Malko will get rid of Alexei's younger, British mistress. Appalled, Malko refuses--until Zhanna reveals her husband's real job: head of a ring of Russian spies operating undercover inside the U.S. For Malko's CIA contacts, this is a highly necessary job; for Malko, it is a highly sensitive one. He will move cautiously from Vienna to London to Moscow, trying to find the right balance of winning Zhanna's trust without compromising his moral integrity"--

Gerard de Villiers (1929–2013) spent his five-decade career cultivating connections in the world of international intelligence, which allowed him to masterfully blend fiction with an insider’s knowledge of international affairs—and to anticipate geopolitical events before they occurred. Originally published from 1965 until his death in 2013, his bestselling SAS series of some 200 spy novels, starring Malko Linge, has long been considered France’s answer to Ian Fleming, with Malko as his James Bond.