Everything began for Kenton with a game of dice in which left him broke. When a strange little man with a nervous air offered him 600 marks for a small service, he accepted—though against his better judgment. That service involved military secrets which had been stolen from the Russians, and Kenton found himself in the center, a perfect sitting target for both sides.

Recognized as the first classic novel of intrigue, this masterpiece has never been surpassed. Here is the fantastic nightmare world of political intrigue and international espionage. Here is a Europe not of tourists, but of professional spies and professional traitors, where a man's shadow is hardly ever his own.