Chapter 1 Summary

In this story of Cold War espionage in a divided Germany, Alec Leamas is a British secret agent who becomes a double agent in order to bring down the head of the Communist intelligence agency in East Germany. All goes according to plan until Leamas finds himself before a secret tribunal that seeks to expose him as a British spy. His personal and professional loyalties come in to play as he realizes that nothing is how it seems. The novel explores the danger and intrigue of 1960s era Cold War espionage and the individuals caught up in it.

Alec Leamas and his CIA contact wait on the Western side of the border between East and West Berlin. A woman, Elvira, crosses the border in her car. She tells Leamas that all of her spy network in East Berlin has been arrested and that...