There are two weeks to go to the US presidential election when the hot favourite, Josh Alexander, is ambushed by a terrorist bomb. He narrowly escapes, but members of his entourage are not so lucky. Alexander is carried to victory by a sympathy vote. On the surface, it appears to be the work of al-Qaeda. But then CIA director Irene Kennedy is presented with classified information so toxic that she has no option but to call on Mitch Rapp, America's top counterterrorism operative: the one man reckless enough to follow the evidence to its explosive conclusion.