Stroud is a former war photographer who left the frontline before his luck ran out. His closest friend and mentor, Vincent Raphael, was not so fortunate, and was killed in an explosion in Jordan.

Six years later, Raphael is allegedly sighted in Istanbul. Reluctantly, Stroud is drawn back into a life that nearly destroyed him, and so begins a journey that takes him from the Balkans to the Netherlands, from Berlin to Paris, as he hunts down the truth of Raphael's death, or if - in fact - Raphael never existed at all . . .

With his every move closely observed by Turkish Intelligence, Mossad, MI6 and Deuxième Bureau, Stroud is on the trail of a revelation that will question everything he has ever believed . . .