Undertow

Moreno, a psychopathic Spanish killer, is helped to escape from prison to aid KGB intelligence chief Feramontov recover the ‘Spyglass logbooks’ which hold the key to political secrets hidden in a U-boat sunk at the end of World War II under cover of a marine biology research mission. But not only has Feramontov underestimated the violent appetites of the dangerous and unstable Moreno, but has unwittingly put his entire operation in the sights of freelance British special agent Johnny Fedora and his Foreign Office side-kick Sebastian Trout.
The violence escalates along the beautiful Mediterranean coast as Franco’s police and intelligence services attempt to track Moreno, but it is left to Johnny Fedora to foil the KGB operation –and deal with Moreno – in a lethal scuba dive through the undertow into the deadly confines of a wrecked submarine.
In Johnny Fedora, the half-Irish, half-Spanish assassin contracted to British Intelligence, Desmond Cory created the first fictional ‘licensed to kill’ secret agent, Fedora’s debut appearing sixty years ago in 1951, two years before the arrival of James Bond in Casino Royale. The Fedora books, which continued until 1971, established Desmond Cory as a leading exponent of fast-moving, gem-hard ‘Brit Grit’ spy thrillers and leading American critic Anthony Boucher dubbed Fedora ‘the thinking man’s James Bond’.


Genre: Thriller

"For my money, Johnny Fedora, professional killer for British Intelligence, more than deserves to take over James Bond's avid audience." - Anthony Boucher