The latest thriller in Tom Clancy's internationally bestselling Jack Ryan series - inspiration for the forthcoming Amazon Prime television series. On a crowded tourist beach in Portugal US operatives use a high-tech drone to watch a French arms dealer flirt with a beautiful woman. It's only when she leaves that they realise she has shot him dead. In Iran protests are growing against the oppressive regime whipped up by a charismatic student. Most external observers are excited but on the ground a spy of questionable loyalty senses something is badly amiss. And meanwhile with the United States reeling from a string of natural disasters Russian troops and ships are massing on the borders of the Ukraine bringing the two powers ever closer to war. Across the globe a conspiracy is brewing so darkly brilliant that no-one has yet joined the dots. And the distracted President Ryan has little time to play catch-up: little does he know that he faces a madman with a plan more devastating than he could possibly imagine...