Paris in 1968. In a city alive with talk of revolution, Will Flemyng finds himself in the thick of the action, a young spy whose first adventures behind the Iron Curtain have already given him a secret glamour. But now he gets news that threatens the closest and most complicated relationship in his life, with his younger brother.

Paris, April 1968.
The cafes are alive with talk of revolution, but for Will Flemyng - secret servant at the British embassy - the crisis is personal. A few words from a stranger on the metro change his life. His family is threatened with ruin and he now faces the spy's oldest fear: exposure.

Freddy Craven is the hero and mentor Flemyng would trust with his life, but when he is tempted into a dark, Cold War labyrinth, he chooses the dangerous path and plays his game alone.

Then a bizarre murder reveals a web of secrets, and his loyalty to family and friends is tested as never before.

Naughtie writes with a cool authority reminiscent of that now neglected master of the novel of espionage, William Haggard' Scotsman.