Spring 1915: World War One rages across Europe, and the British Empire is assailed on all fronts domestic and abroad. Amidst this bloodbath of nations, where one man s flag is another man s shroud, a British spy is asked to do the impossible: seduce and betray the woman he loves, again. Only this time betrayal is a two-way street.
Jack McColl, a spy for His Majesty’s Secret Service, is stationed in India, charged with defending the Empire against Bengali terrorists and their German allies. Belgium, he finds, is not the only country seeking to expel an invader.
In England, meanwhile, suffragette journalist Caitlin Hanley begins the business of rebuilding her life after the execution of her brother an IRA sympathiser whose terrorist plot was foiled by Caitlin s own ex-lover, the very same Jack McColl. The war is changing everything and giving fresh impulse to those causes feminism, socialism and Irish independence which she as a journalist has long supported.
The threat of a Rising in Dublin alarms McColl’s bosses as much as it dazzles Caitlin. If another Irish plot brings them back together, will it be as enemies or lovers? SELLING POINTS: . A major WW1 series publishing to coincide with the war’s centenary . ‘Blockbuster’ style plot with a pair of fascinating and morally complex characters at its heart . Brilliant evocation of the Secret Service in its infancy REVIEWS: ‘In the elite company of literary spy masters Alan Furst and Philip Kerr’ - WASHINGTON POST ‘A superb sequence of spy novels comes … The clammy atmosphere of espionage is wonderfully conveyed.’ - MARCEL BERLINS IN THE TIMES ‘An extraordinary evocation of Nazi Germany’ -C.J. SANSOM ON ZOO STATION ‘Almost epic in scope, Downing’s Station cycle creates a fictional universe rich with a historian’s expertise but rendered with literary style and heart.’ - WALL STREET JOURNAL