Brilliantly crafted * Sunday Times * Gripping momentum... Depth of characterisation, wealth of colour and detail, and precision of prose... New vintage stuff * The Times * Brilliantly written and deserving of the Book Prize, if only it wasn't so populist * Mail on Sunday * A classic... Maybe his best yet * The Times *

In a village on the Suffolk coast, Frank Perry waits for his past to arrive. A decade before he spied for the Government on the Iranian chemical and biological weapon installations. His information damaged their killing capacity for years. Now, Iran will have its revenge and has despatched their most deadly assassin to fulfil the task. Codenamed the Anvil, he will move with stealth towards his chosen objective unless Perry's protectors can reach him first. As he draws nearer, the ring of steel around Perry grows tighter. But against a faceless adversary, and with the job fatally compromised by the stifling political bureaucracy surrounding it, there seems little chance that the past will not have its day once more...