"Michael Hartland joins le Carré and Len Deighton as a master-hand." - BEST SELLERS "A stunning display of diplomatic and undercover know-how, SAS dare-devilry and global double-cross." - THE SUNDAY TIMES “Very good Indeed – a cross between le Carre without the longeurs and Adam Hall with intellect.” - THE GUARDIAN “Skilful pattern of kidnap, blackmail, double and quadruple crossing - a taut tale of treachery.” - PUNCH “Brilliant tale of espionage - a new master thriller writer.” - WESTERN MORNING NEWS "Kept me in goggle-eyed amazement... the plot skips around like gunfire on the ricochet." - LOS ANGELES TIMES "Superior stuff - taut, well observed, original and civilized." - THE TIMES "The women are not mere decoration; they are at the heart of the action." - THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR "Suspense builds from start to finish... the author will rank alongside le Carré, Deighton, and Follett." - WEST COAST REVIEW OF BOOKS VIENNA late 1980s - violence is breaking out in strife-torn Poland. A spark that could set the Soviet prison of Eastern Europe ablaze. There are dangerous Western plans to ensure that the inevitable rising will not be a repeat of Hungary in 1956. In Moscow, faceless men and women know that Bill Cable, after years banished to diplomatic backwaters, is into something big – so big they will destroy him to get it. If they fail, this could mean the end for the Soviet Union. They’ve had a stranglehold on Cable ever since the tragedy, deep in the past, that led to him being kicked out of the Intelligence Service. Now he is back, as British Ambassador in Vienna. Still compromised but, just to make sure, they kidnap his daughter, Sarah, and threaten her life. Will he betray her – or his country and the freedom of millions? - from Amzon