The story in one page
Michael Vance, a retired intelligence operative, is interrupted from his travels by an old KGB contact and an NSA code-breaker who is also his former lover. They are both tangled in a mystery involving the Daedalus Corporation and a missing computer file. A breakaway Soviet faction and the Yakuza are collaborating on a hypersonic space plane capable of shifting global power. As Vance navigates international intrigue and violent syndicate agents, he realizes this technological marvel is meant to serve a darker, nuclear-armed agenda. The race to stop the conspiracy culminates in a broadcast from space that exposes the entire scheme to global audiences.
Who's who
- Michael Vance
Retired CIA operative dragged back into field operations.
- Eva Borodin
NSA cryptographer and former lover of Michael Vance.
- Alex Novosty
KGB agent caught laundering money, seeking Vance's help.
- Tanzan Mino
Industrialist intent on Japan's twenty-first century ascendancy.
- Yuri Andreevich Androv
Soviet Air Force major and space pilot.
What it's really about
- Technological Hubris
- Advanced engineering fueling dangerous geopolitical ambitions.
- Institutional Betrayal
- Agencies and syndicates sacrificing their own for power.
Why it's memorable
- A hand with three fingers severed just below the knuckle.
- A cosmonaut drifting in zero gravity while holding a press conference.
The ending, explained
Spoilers — show the ending
The conspiracy is undone when a cosmonaut in orbit broadcasts the truth about the operation to the entire world via satellite. Kenji Nogami watches the feed and realizes Vance has effectively hijacked the narrative from space.
For your book club
- How do private corporations hide weapons in outer space?
- Can a single broadcast stop a nuclear-armed conspiracy?