From internationally bestselling author who is “filling the gap left by Len Deighton and John
le Carre” ( Evening Standard ) comes a propulsive espionage thriller for fans of Mick Herron
Daniel Silva and Olen Steinhauer. Meet disgraced MI5 agent Slim Parsons a character who -
like Lisbeth Salander - will sear your soul Slim Parsons is all but burned. When her last
deep-cover job for MI5 ended with a life-and-death struggle on a private jet she went on the
run from her deadly target – a conniving businessman and money launderer codenamed “Hagfish."
Now she's back at home in hiding from her angry bosses in the Security Service who have
accused her of being overly violent and unsuitable for the role of an MI5 operative. But after
several months off the grid Slim is called back to another job – Operation Linesman – where
she is asked to infiltrate a news website Middle Kingdom whose explosive articles clearly show
that they’ve hacked into the most high-security government databases. She accepts the
assignment on condition that the Security Service searches for her missing brother. But
Linesman turns out to be anything but simple. Slim uncovers a curious connection between the
Middle Kingdom hackers and the legendary Bletchley Park codebreakers. Her new colleagues are
becoming suspicious of her intentions and Hagfish is out for revenge and threatening MI5
itself as it all comes together in a shocking crescendo. And all the while she is being watched
by someone even deeper in the shadows than she is.
