Paul Tallis is ex-army and ex-police. He's currently with MI5, but it's not on the conventional, salaried basis. There are some people who need to be deniable if it all goes wrong and who can do things that can't be done officially. In Turkey he looked like just another tourist, sitting outside a street café having a drink with an old friend, when his companion was gunned down. It's obvious to Tallis that at least one of the killers is British, but the Turkish police are more interested in Tallis himself and before long he finds himself sampling their hospitality in a prison cell, along with a family of rats.