Vienna. 1952.

The Cold War is at its most bleak as tensions and suspicions run high.

A mysterious letter, dropped through the car window of an Austrian intelligence officer, begins the remarkable story of the Russian peasant who rose to high rank in Soviet Military Intelligence, only to become the first Soviet official to ever work for the West.

It is an act that provides the CIA with the innermost secrets of the Russian military.

But it will plunge the man himself into the harrowing life of the penetration agent, or mole — the lonely man in the enemy camp.

Whatever his motives may be, the role of a spy is to betray trust.

Yet can a man who has volunteered, or been forced, to commit treason logically be trusted again?

William Hood reveals that when an intelligence service buys a spy, it buys him totally.

For the spy, espionage is a one-way street, ending only in betrayal or discovery…

Mole is a historical memoir with high stakes that will keep you hooked until the last page.

Praise for William Hood

‘A skillful spy novel’ - The Wall Street Journal

William J. Hood (1920-2013), was a retired senior officer in the Central Intelligence Agency and a writer. During World War II, having just transferred from the Army into military intelligence, he volunteered for the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the C.I.A. After the war, he remained in Europe. His hobbies included photography, marksmanship, sailing, jazz, and collecting first editions.