[1][2][3] Adams was sued by a former counter-intelligence official on the grounds the novel's main character bore too close a resemblance to his own life.
Former Minister of National Defence Paul Hellyer wrote that information in the novel seemed sufficiently credible to alter the mandate of a high-profile inquiry into wrongdoing by the RCMP Security Service.
In the novel S is employed as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's official in charge of countering attempts by the Soviet Union to spy on Canada.
[1] Worthington told Bennett that the character of the publisher of a tabloid newspaper had enough parallels that he could sue Adams.
In a 1977 review Paul Hellyer, a former Minister of National Defence, suggested other characters were strongly based on John Starnes, Bennett's boss, Solicitor General Jean-Pierre Goyer, Karl Kristian Ring, who he identifies as an arms dealer.