The Innocent by Ian McEwan

A naïve young man finds himself on a British-American surveillance team in Cold War Berlin in this startling psychological thriller. Based on real events in which a joint force dug tunnels under West Berlin to intercept Russian communications, this riveting tale of espionage and loss of innocence is as intense as it is impressive.

A member of a British-American surveillance team in Cold War Berlin finds himself in too deep in this "wholly entertaining" work (The Wall Street Journal) from the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement.

Twenty-five-year-old Leonard Marnham’s intelligence work—tunneling under a Russian communications center to tap the phone lines to Moscow—offers him a welcome opportunity to begin shedding his own unwanted innocence, even if he is only a bit player in a grim international comedy of errors. His relationship with Maria Eckdorf, an enigmatic and beautiful West Berliner, likewise promises to loosen the bonds of his ordinary life. But the promise turns to horror in the course of one terrible evening—a night when Marnham learns just how much of his innocence he's willing to shed.

Don’t miss Ian McEwan’s new novel, Lessons.