Kleo is a book about war, sex, drugs and espionage. it begins in 1930 outside valladolid in spain where the immensely rich kleo lives with her lover freia. in 1936 kleo becomes the mistress of a luftwaffe commander fighting with franco and the nationalists and he helps kleo rescue her nephew anchises from the russian nkvd in republican spain. a year later anchises himself is recruited by mi6 and posted to madrid where the wife of the most powerful german in spain becomes his mistress. after their affair is discovered he kills two gestapo agents and flees spain for tangier where he becomes a willing accomplice to the theft of nazi diamonds for a criminal syndicate led by his cousin pretorius. the following year he travels to siam then goes north to burma to arrange opium shipments from a shan prince to the same cousin. on returning to london he works for mi9 before being posted to athens after the liberation of greece just before the start of the greek civil war.