The Illegals series
Where to buy
Where to buy
A sensational novel about the secrets of Polish intelligence.
"Being a double agent is controlled schizophrenia."
Klaus Fuchs
A Polish intelligence officer who worked abroad for many years under an assumed identity, writing under the pseudonymVincent V. Severski, reveals the statecraft of intelligence services in various countries of the world.
Illegals is a spy novel set in contemporary Poland, Sweden, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, with historical episodes from the Second World War woven in, as well as many contemporary political plots and public figures. The author uncovers the mysteries of Polish-Russian relations going back to the 1940s involving hitherto unknown aspects of the Katyn massacre and Institute of National Remembrance documents. It alludes to the present day, detailing the details of the right wing's takeover of power in Poland. The plot revolves around a Polish al-Qaeda liaison and reveals the methods of the Swedish secret service.
The protagonists of the novel are illegals, or sleeper agents – super-secret spies who adopt a new identity and become a 'legend' abroad.
Konrad returns to Warsaw after an unsuccessful mission in the Middle East: once again, he has failed to catch 'Karol' a.k.a. Safir as-Salam, a Polish defector and al-Qaeda liaison officer... A certain Hans Jorgensen scours the Swedish press for seemingly innocuous advertisements, from which he then deciphers coded information. Colonel Stepanovich of the Minsk KGB is not happy for long with the dollars he earned from smuggling, as he falls victim to a robbery. In October 1939 in Moscow, Beria, the head of the NKVD, listens to a talk by Major Zarubin on intelligence and operational activities in Poland. Professor Barda turns up at the office of the Institute of National Remembrance director and claims to have documents that shed a whole new light on the Katyn massacre. In Poland, the role of director is held by Stanisław Zieliński, but real authority is with the head of his office, Marcin Kamiński, who is not very presentable but enjoys the backing of a conservative electorate.
All of these seemingly far-flung threads, characters, places and events come together in a remarkable, precisely constructed plot, creating a several-hundred-page immersive story of exceptional power.