Ex-MI5 boss pens spy novel set in Middle East

London, Sept 27 : Former MI5 boss Dame Stella Rimington has penned a new novel - a thriller about a spy who has to stop terrorists disrupting a Middle East peace conference.

Titled 'Dead Line', the book traces the journey of a young intelligence officer called Liz Carlyle.

Carlyle's boyfriend is a journalist who uncovers another reporter who has been helping a foreign intelligence service. The novel's plot is set around a peace conference at Gleneagles in Scotland when Syrian Intelligence say they have heard of a plot to disrupt the meeting in a big way. The big vividly details the handling of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.

"Fathoming motives in the Middle East is the equivalent of building sandcastles. You can erect the most impressive structure and then one big wave can wash it all away," Telegraph quoted one MI5 officer, as saying in the book.

In the book the CIA characters say that the British "don't trust the Israelis".

Rimington, 73, became the first woman director general of MI5 in 1992 and held the post until her retirement in 1996.

The novel is the fourth in the Liz Carlyle series and will be published next week.

ANI