When a Cambridge professor is murdered, a victim of Chinese torture, Alex Hawke teams up with Scotland Yard colleague and friend inspector Ambrose Congreve to find the killer. But this death is only the beginning of a lethal game of geopolitical brinkmanship.

Meanwhile, hostilities are escalating between China, North Korea, and the United States. In the East China Sea, a North Korean crew murders four U.S. sailors. Then China launches fighter jets and a megasubmarine more sophisticated than any seen before—military technology that might leapfrog everything the U.S. and Great Britain possess.

With the situation edging towards global devastation, Hawke must pull off his most daring mission yet: infiltrate enemy territory and neutralize their advantage . . . or risk the outbreak of World War III.