It is on the twentieth day of January that the new U.S.
President takes oath and starts his term in office. James MacKay an SIS officer
recalls an old incident ( many years ago) where a
young man was pulled of the streets by the police in Paris and put in jail after being beaten up. As he watches the U.S. presidential
elections , he realizes with a start, that the campaign manager of the leading contender is that same young man who was arrested so long ago for a demonstration in Paris .. He recalls that that young man had a Russian girlfriend and was a card carrying member of the Communist Party... He checks back and comes to the
startling tentative
conclusion that this man may harbour a hatred for the United States which could be a potential for disaster as a trusted aide of the next U.S. president. What should he do ?.. He goes to the CIA who are non committal but agree to investigate . As they
start to unravel the threads, they come to the startling conclusion that the Soviets could have influenced the elections in favour of the new President! The choices are very difficult and the onus for hard evidence is on two intrepid agents .. An impossible mission which will have no winners .... A spy story which is a must read. It shows how the American system of elections can be subverted and how the system will survive against all odds...
This is a novel based on an extraordinary situation but the characters and the story line is close to realism . As one reads this book , one can almost understand the cold war era and why the super powers played the dangerous games where the stakes were so high.