A novel by Tom Rogers
Britain, 1979. In the shadows of the Cold War, a secret threatens to change the course of history.
Coming in 2027
About the novel
Icon is a Cold War espionage novel set against the political upheavals of 1979. At its centre is Detective Sergeant Northland, an unconventional Special Branch officer in the East Riding of Yorkshire, who becomes entangled in a secret Soviet operation known as Project Icon. What begins as an obscure assignment soon draws him into a world of sleeper agents, betrayal and conspiracy.
As the conspiracy begins to unravel, Northland finds himself caught between rival intelligence interests, political loyalties and people prepared to protect the secret at almost any cost. At the heart of it all lies one question: who, or what, is Icon?
Read an extract
Read an exclusive extract from Icon before publication.
The World of Icon
The world of Icon stretches from the streets and seaside towns of northern England to Moscow, the Peak District and the coast of Galicia. Cold War intrigue sits alongside police corruption, political conspiracy and an older, stranger world of folklore, superstition and fate.
From the author
Icon grew from my interest in the hidden machinery of history: the people, institutions and accidents that can shape events without ever appearing in the official record. I wanted to write a spy story rooted not only in the great capitals of the Cold War, but also in the quieter corners of Britain, where extraordinary events can intrude upon seemingly ordinary lives.