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A high-octane, hugely topical novel from ´the best thriller writer in the world´ (Daily Telegraph)

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´The novel is an absorbing briefing on cyberwarfare as well as a masterclass in characterisation´ SUNDAY TIMES Thriller of the Month

From the author of Harry´s Game - A Sunday Times ´100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945´ pick

There is a new cold war raging and its frontline warriors are Russian hackers - gang-members working freelance for the FSB, successor to the KGB. Massive thefts of personal information, electoral interference, catastrophic disruption of commercial and social services, banks, airlines, even whole countries disabled - this is happening now.

Nicknamed ´Boot´ because of his obsession with the Duke of Wellington and the battle of Waterloo, Edwin Coker is a case officer at the Vauxhall headquarters of MI6. When a young hacker falls into his hands and reveals details of a secret meeting, Boot conceives a daring plan to strike back - not with a computer virus of his own, but with a bomb that will seriously damage the Russian operation, spreading fear and distrust.

Now Boot and his little team need a ´deniable´ handler to deliver the explosives across the border from Estonia into Russia and bring the hacker back out. They turn to Merc, an ex-soldier fighting in Iraq, a gun-for-hire who knows how to get out of a tight spot. They hope.

From the moment Merc sets out to cross the River Narva things do not go to plan and when the hacker´s sister becomes involved, his mission turns from tough to near impossible. The scene is set for a classic story of pursuit and evasion and an epic battle for survival.

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Britain´s finest thriller novelist is still the veteran Gerald Seymour, whose touch remains sure i Paper

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Seymour, Gerald

Gerald Seymour exploded onto the literary scene in 1975 with the massive bestseller HARRY´S GAME. The first major thriller to tackle the modern troubles in Northern Ireland, it was described by Frederick Forsyth as ´like nothing else I have ever read´ and it changed the landscape of the British thriller forever.

Gerald Seymour was a reporter at ITN for fifteen years. He covered events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, the Munich Olympics, Israel and Northern Ireland. He has been a full-time writer since 1978.

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