A ROOKIE AGENT. A TICKING CLOCK. A PLOT TO IGNITE WORLD CHAOS.

Named one of the year's best spy books by Tim Shipman, Political Editor of The Sunday Times: "It's terrific. Hugely propulsive, a gutsy lead, a genuine sense of peril, and a punchy conclusion."

With graduation days away, MI5 trainee Jo Batten is thrust into a deadly mission only a veteran should face. The countdown is on, and failure isn’t an option.

The UK’s enemies have set their plan in motion: a series of coordinated attacks designed to kill thousands and paralyze a nation. Even the most seasoned operatives are stretched to the breaking point. For Jo—still technically a trainee—the assignment is beyond impossible.

But the danger doesn’t end with the terrorists. From the shadows emerges a ghost from Britain’s past—an adversary with a personal vendetta and a blueprint for global war.

With only an anonymous hacker and a retired spy as allies, Jo must rely on raw instinct and sheer nerve. Every step she takes could be her last. Every decision could trigger catastrophe.

Published
September 17, 2025
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Additional book details

Author

Michael Dylan

I grew up in London, and I'll always be a Londoner — even though I've spent the last decade living in a small fishing village on the West Coast of Canada, walking my dog Buddy along the beach, and thinking probably too much about murder.I write gritty, fast-paced crime fiction: the DI Simon Wise series, set in the London streets I still know by heart; the Jo Batten MI5 thrillers; and the Roy Hicks Brighton Crime Thrillers. I run on an unreasonable amount of tea (never coffee) and I eat more chocolate than I'm prepared to admit to. When I'm not making up stories, I'm shouting at Chelsea FC, or trying to convince my kids that a comic book…