A good old fashioned espionage story set during the Joe Biden Administration.
The story takes advantage of the chaos caused by the Trump supporters in the January 6th uprising, the war in Ukraine and the revolving door of British Government.
At the centre of the story are three, state-of-the-art, ground-air, guided missiles that the UK supplied to Ukraine.
Chuff is an ex-army private contractor working for E Squadron, a section of the special forces that work directly for Government departments such as MI6.
Chuffs initial job is to audit the munitions being sent to Ukraine, in order to see that its not been sold on to third parties.
When it becomes evident that 3 of the ground-air missiles have fallen into the wrong hands she is initially tasked with finding them.
When that ends in a diplomatic mess she is the scapegoat and is hung out to dry.
Meanwhile in the USA one Politician has eyes on the big seat.
Although the Presidents, past present and future are not named in the book, it is obvious who Conway is talking about.
Biden is seen to be a sleepy liability, but the “Good Old Boys” of the Republican Party are not too happy with the possibility of Trump returning to power.
The answer is to use the militia, formed during the raid on congress on 6th January 2021, to cause chaos and allow one man a run at the Presidency.
To do that they need to get a ground-air missile to Washington and take out the President whilst he’s flying in Marine 1
Chuff is brought back into the fold and tasked with infiltrating the American militia terrorist cell.
But it’s becoming obvious that none of the main players are who they appertain to be.
She can’t trust anybody, the problem is she thinks she can trust some of the main players. In fact the deeper she gets the more she seems to trust. But is that part of the bigger plan.
Who wants Chuff to succeed in stopping the plot to kill POTUS, and who wants him dead and is setting her up to be a scapegoat for the second time.
Throw into the mixture a Russian who also wanted the missiles, and who now holds a personal grudge against Chuff and you have a great story.
The story, and the writing are Clancy(esk).
The plot is not only believable, in the current international climate, but is frankly very realistic.
The characters are not, by any means, a stretch of the imagination. In fact I would go as far as to suggest they are some of the most realistic, and believable characters I’ve read in espionage books.
As a fan of the aforementioned Tom Clancy, this is the book I’ve been waiting for, for years.
Pages: 419. Publisher: Penguin. Publishing date: 20th August 2026. Audiobook length and Narrator yet to be announced but available from 20th August 2026
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