January 1988. The Moscow-Paris express train rattles through the Russian night carrying Bernard Samson and his grievously sick companion, Jim Prettyman, home. But for Samson this is just the beginning of another long and dangerous journey. Anger and suspicion sparkle like snowflakes on the cold night air. Communists still rule Russia. Polish soldiers have taken control of the Warsaw palaces. The Eastern Bloc is crumbling like hard clay, and everyone's fighting for their own turf.

In Charity, the concluding volume of Len Deighton's superb trilogy that began with Faith and Hope, Samson continues to peel away the mystery surrounding his sister-in-law. Tessa Kosinski was murdered in Berlin on the crucial night his wife, Fiona, came back West from the cold. With no one he can trust, nowhere to run, few leads, and even fewer truthful answers, Samson doggedly traces his way back to the fateful night in Berlin when he saw Tessa get shot.

Again, he's forced to confront the key relationships in his own life. Fiona, while back at work, is far from stable. His children remain in the clutches of his wealthy and manipulative father-in-law. Gloria, his estranged mistress, still wants him back. Childhood friend Werner Volkmann, reluctant to get involved in Samson's quest for truth, knows far more than he plans to reveal.