Paula Grey escapes death by minutes when guests at a lunch party at a remote Cornwall mansion are massacred. A massive bomb blows Tweed's London HQ to pieces. Both events take place on the same day. Who carries the power to cause Tweed to be abandoned by the British Prime Minister?

What is the horrific secret which must remain concealed no matter how many are murdered? Is there a link with six unsolved serial killings in America's Deep South? To survive, Tweed flies with his team to Zurich.

Switzerland is no longer safe - the attempts to exterminate Tweed, Bob Newman and Paula increase in ferocity. Who is the man behind the transatlantic apparatus closing in on them? Can Tweed trust Jennie Blade, girlfriend of arrogant 'Squire' Gaunt - or Eve, English wife of Swiss banker Julius Amberg?

The action sweeps on to the snowbound Vosges Mountains in France. Tweed fits together the pieces of a hideous jigsaw. The answer - buried in Washington and Cornwall - is a terrifying revelation.