Deep Blue

A penetrating new spy thriller from a master of the genre


"This is a story that shows us how the nastiest regimes are composed of real people. Judd has taken some unlikely ingredients...and, brilliantly, fashioned them into a touching, poignant story."

"A haunting tribute to a near-forgotten figure... Judd has complete command of the subtleties of character, ambition and emotional ambiguity in extreme circumstances-- an unusual and intelligent treatment of the Third Reich."

"Judd's engrossing tale, rooted in actuality, teases out the mixed responses that can exist between, and within, people."

"A fascinating and imaginative exploration of a seminal episode of 20th-century history."

"Fascinating...if one of the hallmarks of a good novel is that the characters do not remain static but are subtly transformed by events, then this is a very good novel indeed."

"A highly accomplished novel [with an] intricate and superbly crafted plot. In a small compass, Judd manages to bring home the reality of the war with remarkable vividness. There is not a spare word here. If you start, you'll finish."

“Alan Judd has written a quite superb account about a vital point in world history, touched by all those issues common to us all: love, sex, doubt, courage, weakness and loyalty. What does a good man do when he finds that he is sworn to do evil? The Kaiser's Last Kiss is an extraordinarily fine book, rich in wisdom, and blessed with sparkling historical erudition."

Alan Judd is the author of two biographies and seventeen novels, three of which have been filmed. He has won the Guardian Fiction award, the Heinemann award and the Royal Society of Literature’s Winifred Holtby award. His novels include the Charles Thoroughgood spy series and A Fine Madness , featuring the life and death of Christopher Marlowe, poet, playwright and spy. He also wrote The Quest for C , the authorized biography of Mansfield Cumming, founder of MI6, for which he was granted access to Cumming’s diary. He has reviewed widely and has been a regular columnist for the Telegraph , the Spectator and the Oldie. He is an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.