The book behind the hit BBC 2 series that reveals the tricks and survival strategies of the real-life spy game

Former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson knows a thing or two about how to stay in the shadows.

He shows how to lie without being caught, how to follow someone without being spotted and how to spot those who might be following you. He reveals the secrets of walk-ins, gangplank approaches, false flag operations, dead letter boxes and brush contacts. There are sections on how to construct an alternative identity, how to check your house for bugging devices and your car for bombs, how to disappear in a crowd by 'going grey'and how agents are spotted and recruited.

But Spy also goes beyond the techniques of espionage to examine a range of issues facing today's intelligence services - the morality of using assassination and blackmail, the heroes and villains of the espionage world, and how modern terrorists are able to evade detection by Western intelligence organisations. At the end of it all he even tells you how to apply for a job with the real intelligence services.