Tom Atkins joined the Service in the dying days of the cold war, so when he's called in to meet his boss he's prepared to receive his final set of marching orders. But Tom's war isn't over yet, because he's ordered to investigate the activities of a commercial cyber-security operation, who his boss fears has infiltrated the Service itself. So Atkins won't be able to call upon his colleagues for help, and he must also continue to manage an ongoing field operation - monitoring the activities of a suspected terrorist cell.
Atkins won't be entirely alone though, because Rishan Kotak - a young graduate recruit and expert on the dark net, hacking and cyber-espionage - is assigned to work alongside him. But their pursuit inevitably turns to flight, as Atkins and Kotak find themselves outmatched and manoeuvred by an opposition whose loyalties and motivations Atkins can't fully understand. And when his own terrorist surveillance operation is blown, with catastrophic consequences, Atkins and Kotak find themselves very much on their own.
Can the generation gap between the two men be breached? Can Atkins' experience and fieldcraft combine with Kotak's hacking and electronic counter-surveillance expertise and give the pair, plus a small group of renegades and fellow travellers, a fighting chance as they confront their powerful and shadowy enemy?
J J Salkeld is an established crime and thriller writer, whose international best-selling Lakeland Murders series is also available on Kindle. Reviewer R Rhodes said: 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'
Atkins won't be entirely alone though, because Rishan Kotak - a young graduate recruit and expert on the dark net, hacking and cyber-espionage - is assigned to work alongside him. But their pursuit inevitably turns to flight, as Atkins and Kotak find themselves outmatched and manoeuvred by an opposition whose loyalties and motivations Atkins can't fully understand. And when his own terrorist surveillance operation is blown, with catastrophic consequences, Atkins and Kotak find themselves very much on their own.
Can the generation gap between the two men be breached? Can Atkins' experience and fieldcraft combine with Kotak's hacking and electronic counter-surveillance expertise and give the pair, plus a small group of renegades and fellow travellers, a fighting chance as they confront their powerful and shadowy enemy?
J J Salkeld is an established crime and thriller writer, whose international best-selling Lakeland Murders series is also available on Kindle. Reviewer R Rhodes said: 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'
