Throughout history, secret services have been employed by repressive regimes to keep the populace in check at home, while hiring agents to collect intelligence abroad. Britain's first secret service was established by Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary of state to Elizabeth I; meanwhile the US Secret Service was set up in 1865 as a specialized department of the Treasury, charged with stopping the circulation of forged banknotes.

This book concentrates on more recent covert operations conducted by the modern-day security services of the USA, Britain, Russia and China, a game of spy versus spy played out day by day and decade by decade across the world, with the ultimate stake each nation's freedom. From Sidney Reilly 'Ace of Spies' through the heyday of the KGB, CIA and MI5/ MI6 to today's super-snooper Big Brother set-up, The Spying Game gives you the inside track on an incredible cloak and dagger world of international intrigue now being eclipsed by computers and electronic surveillance as the NSA in America and Britain's GCHQ take over the reins.