Kashgar; the Silk Road city on the edge of the merciless Taklamakan desert.

When a bowl of peanuts tumbles from a market stall on a Kashgar side street, nobody could imagine that it will reverberate around the world.

Ismail's little brother is arrested by the Chinese authorities. As the elder boy of a fatherless Uyghur family, young Ismail knows that he must somehow act to save him. He and his rag-tag gang of friends devise a daring plan, armed only with a few rusty rifles, a truck - and two borrowed camels.

What he doesn't foresee is that his actions will ultimately involve an American senator, a Chinese general, a ruthless terrorist group, British Intelligence, the President of the United States, the might of the American Seventh Fleet - and a courtesan called See Wing.

Ismail is a good boy. He certainly never meant to hold half the world to ransom.