There are no secrets and few surprises in Triple, but Ken Follett knows other ways to keep tension high in his thrillers. Follett has taken one convention of the spy-novel—spy accomplishes dangerous mission, barely avoiding treacherous counter-agents—and turned it inside-out once again. In The Eye of the Needle, the protagonist is a World War II German spy who we hope will be caught. In Triple, Israeli agent Nat Dickstein is the hero, but one whose identity is uncovered, whose plans are guessed, and whose every move is traced by Russian and Egyptian spies.

So the tension in this well-constructed thriller stems solely from Nat keeping one step ahead of his opponents. His mission includes several topics of current interest, and is complicated enough to keep one wondering how it ever could be concluded successfully…. How he manages this (all the time wishing he were back on...