Paul Wallinger, MI6's most senior officer in the Middle East, is killed when the small plane he is piloting crashes into the Adriatic. It looks like a tragic accident, but in the world of the secret service, nothing is ever as it seems. Rogue spy Thomas Kell has been working off the books for Amelia Levene, head of MI6. She dispatches Kell to Turkey to investigate the incident and to find out why sensitive MI6 operations in the region keep getting blown. What he discovers is a shocking secret about America's intelligence community which could have seismic repercussions in London and Washington.