THE long fingers of spying can reach back many years and stretch across many countries as Bill Gages finds out two decades after he was as a boy innocently involved in a spying operation in Vienna.

An anonymous note, recalling that earlier time, leads him back into the past through continuous hints using quotes from a variety of spy novels as to what was the truth which has parallels in the present.

It is an intriguing way to develop a story that is full of twists and turns and the unexpected. But Dan Fesperman handles it extremely well to keep the reader interested and wanting to find out whether Bill Gages uncovers the truth of the past, to what extent it involved his girlfriend Litzi Strauss and how much his father was part of the spying world.

This is one of the best spy novels to be published for some time.