Flashpoint Trieste is the story of one year in one city as the Cold War begins. The Western Allies captured the Adriatic port city before the Russians could reach it, but having survived the war, everybody is now desperate to make it through the liberation. Life is fast and violent, as former warring parties find common cause against the Soviet Union and the borders of the new Europe are being hammered out. Against this deadly backdrop of espionage, escape and revenge, the British and Americans are locked into the opening stages of the Cold War on the beautiful shores of the Adriatic, opposing the Russians and Yugoslavs.

Now published in paperback, this is the story of the first turbulent post-war year of lethal cat-and-mouse in south-eastern Europe, told through the stories of twelve men and women from seven different countries thrown together on a strategically vital frontier between East and West.