On a sunny morning in the English county of Shropshire, Callum Bremner is standing in a prison allotment waiting to be shot.

The opening gambit of a sophisticated operation to penetrate the highest echelon of the Albanian mafia, the stakes could not be higher – either for him personally or, given the huge political and reputational risks in play, his controllers.

In an ever-changing tapestry of competing interests, nothing can be taken at face value. Shifting alliances

and violence – where loyalty and trust are repeatedly questioned – failure invokes fearful retribution.

Convincingly living a lie comes at a cost and, as he learns, tests his values, beliefs and courage: a world in which wise men sleep with a sword in their hand.

A multiple-perspective international crime thriller set in the present day.