The Spook (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780868197685)

It's 1965 and the South Bendigo branch of the Communist Party is in a rut. The Tribune isn't selling, membership is down and the Maoists are gaining ground. So young Martin Porter is a welcome new recruit. His mother doesn't understand why he has thrown his values out the window and grown his hair. But all is not what it seems. Martin is an ASIO mole about to discover that spying on communists isn't all dark glasses, sexy Cossack dancing and vodka shots. When his newfound friends draw him into their family he finds that doing his bit for his country is more complicated than he'd imagined.

Inspired by a true story from country Victoria, Melissa Reeves exposes the Australian political obsessions of the 1960s with much humour and an astuteness that gives the play contemporary bite.

Includes an introduction by Stuart Macintyre, Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne