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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
A government cover-up; some violence; Cold War espionage context
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific paranoia of a bureaucratic cover-up — when the people who are supposed to protect you are the ones you need protecting from
What this book is about
An early Ian Rankin novel — published before the Rebus series established him — following a government civil servant who discovers that an astronaut's death during a shuttle mission was not an accident. The cover-up involves Cold War intelligence operations and reaches into the highest levels of the British government. Westwind is a thriller in the John le Carré tradition, focused on the institutional mechanisms of intelligence and the specific danger of knowing things that the people who know you know.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
early Ian Rankin standalone; pre-Rebus; Cold War spy thriller
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