The night that Flight 229 was blown apart upon landing at Washington's Dulles Airport— killing almost 400 passengers aboard— James Bond embarked on a mission that would become an obsession. Who was responsible for destroying the British-owned aircraft? Was it a straightforward act of terrorism, an assassination aimed at only one person, or a move to put the airline out of business? The search for answers has a personal meaning: Bond' s former lover and old friend, the Principessa Sukie Tempesta, is listed as one of the ill-fated passengers.

In this white-knuckle 007 thriller, master spy James Bond undertakes the most complex and demanding assignment of his career. Across continents and through ever-changing labyrinths of evil, Bond follows the traces of clues to an organization more deadly than any terrorist army. What Bond finds could very well spell his own last days.