Joe Dempsey is standing in the heart of London when the bullets start flying, an audacious assassination attempt on a former US president unfolding before his eyes, and the deadly military intelligence officer knows immediately that what he's witnessing is far more than a lone gunman's rage. This is the opening salvo in a conspiracy that stretches from the corridors of Westminster to the streets of Belfast, from the newsrooms of New York to the ancient stones of Rome, and Dempsey is the only one who can see the pattern emerging from the chaos. Written by a practicing international barrister whose own career has taken him deep into the world of murder, kidnap, and extortion, this high-octane debut brings an authenticity to its political machinations and explosive action that most thrillers can only pretend to possess. As Britain's government teeters on the brink of collapse, Dempsey finds himself racing against time alongside CNN reporter Sarah Truman, each following separate threads of the same dark tapestry, while Michael Devlin, a Belfast-born criminal barrister harboring secrets of his own, is pulled inexorably into their orbit. What matters here is how Kent understands that the most dangerous conspiracies are built on old loyalties and buried sympathies, on the things we thought we'd left behind but that never truly let us go. This is thriller writing that combines the ruthless political complexity of House of Cards with the relentless momentum of 24, a debut that announces a major new voice in the genre.