From the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2012 for Best Thriller of the Year comes a gripping and suspenseful spy novel. Perfect for fans of John le Carré, Charles Cumming is 'the master of the modern spy thriller' (Mail on Sunday)

Hong Kong, 1997. Only a few short months of British rule remain before the territory returns to Chinese control.

It's a feverish city. And the spooks are hard at work, jostling for position and influence. So when an elderly man emerges from the sea, claiming to know secrets he will share only with the British Governor, a young MI6 officer, Joe Lennox, sees the chance to make his reputation.

But when the old man, a high-profile Chinese professor, is spirited away in the middle of the night by the CIA, it's clear that there's a great deal more at stake here than a young spy's career.

The professor holds the key to a sinister and ambitious plan that could have catastrophic repercussions for the world in the twenty-first century...