Jack Higgins · 1982 · thriller

Jack Higgins's 1982 thriller. Frank Barry, an IRA gunman turned freelance and paid by Moscow, has killed three agents planted in his organisation. Ferguson's answer is to fetch Liam Devlin out of retirement and break a convicted terrorist out of a French prison to hunt him - on the principle that it takes one to find one.

1. 1
   Brittany

   A plot to kill the British Foreign Secretary at a private meeting in the French countryside is called off at the last minute, and the agent inside Barry's organisation is shot for it - the third Ferguson has lost.

2. 2
   London

   In London, Ferguson takes the only route left to him: recruit Liam Devlin, and offer a man serving life in France his freedom in exchange for hunting Barry - a bargain that everyone involved understands will not stay controllable.

3. 3
   Wast Water

   Barry's next commission is a new anti-tank rocket, to be demonstrated on an army proving ground in the Cumbrian fells - and the trap laid for him there among the crags is set by men he has already outmanoeuvred twice.