Tremor of Intent

A comic spy novel set during the Cold War. Hillier, a middle-aged British agent with a taste for food and women, is sent to track down a former schoolfriend who has defected to the other side. The pursuit takes him aboard a ship and into a tangle of rival agents. Burgess uses the thriller form to explore faith, loyalty and appetite, mixing farce with serious questions about belief and betrayal. It is witty, fast and unusually thoughtful for the genre.