The war had been going on for nearly a year and the Sirian Empire had a huge advantage in personnel and equipment.  Earth needed an edge.  Which was where James Mowry came in.

If a small insect buzzing around in a car could so distract the driver as to cause that vehicle to crash, think what havoc one properly trained operative could wreak on an unuspecting enemy. 

Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, James Mowry is landed on Jaimec, the ninety-fourth planet of the Sirian Empire.  His mission is simple: sap morale, cause mayhem, tie up resources, wage a one-man war on a planet of eighty million.  In short, be a wasp.

First published in 1957, WASP is generally regarded as Eric Frank Russell's best novel, a witty and exciting account of a covert war in the heart of enemy territory.

81, 82 new hostile worlds discovered: 83 - and then another five propulsors blew their linings simultaneously and Scout-Officer John Leeming knew he would have to make a crash landing.  Soon he was a prisoner of the Zangastans - and filled with a determination to get back to Earth just as soon as possible.

It took the failure of an orthodox escape attempt to make him realise that his alien life-form captors knew precious little of human nature.  So unprompted corroboration from another Terran prisoner held by the Lathians, Zangasta's senior allies, that said Lathians had the Willies was good enough proof that Leeming's Eustace could be pretty dangerous.  Does this baffle you?  Read on!