A. J. Lewinter is a American Scientist, for years an insignificant cog in America's complex defense machinery. While at an academic conference in Tokyo, Lewinter contacts the KGB station chief and says he wants to defect. He tantalizes the Russians with U. S. military secrets he claims to possess, but is his defection genuine? Neither the Russians nor the Americans are sure and Lewinter is swept up in a terrifying political chess match of deceit and treachery. Each side struggles to anticipate its opponent's next move and the superpowers are locked in a deadly contest that exploits friendships, destroys loyalties, and manipulate human beings as expendable pawns.

Robert Littell's novels include the New York Time bestseller The Company, The October Circle, The Sister, The Revolutionist, Mother Russia, The Once and Future Spy, and The Visiting Professor. A former Newsweek journalist, he is an American currently living in France.