Quiller is older now, embittered, cynical and running on empty. A sorely needed vacation is rudely interrupted with an urgent mission to Moscow.

A reliable British agent, Schrenk, an old partner of Quiller's, has been captured by the Russians and subjected to torture in Lubyanka Prison. Schrenk has managed to escape, but he has disappeared and has made no contact with control in London. Quiller is told to find him.

THE SCORPION SIGNAL is a stark and believable spy novel, largely set behind the Iron Curtain.