The true story of American master spy Larry J. Kolb was preempted by Riverhead editor Christopher Knutsen in a deal negotiated by agents Joel Gotler and Noah Lukeman at AMG/Renaissance. He bought world hard/soft, first serial and audio rights to a book called Peers of the Realm, in which Kolb describes every phase of his extraordinary career. The son of a master spy, he was raised around the world in an atmosphere of intrigue and resisted an early attempt to draft him into the CIA. Later, after he had become a successful businessman, he did join the agency and served in Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Pakistan and India. While running a covert campaign for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in India, he wrote a series of investigative stories that led to his trial in absentia, and he still lives in a safe house. The book is set for 2003.