Somewhere in Russia is a man so powerful that no one even knows his name.

Yet though he is all but invisible, he is pulling strings - and pulling them hard. For suddenly Russia is a far bigger threat than even the most devoted Cold War warriors ever thought possible. With her finger on the switch to the European economy and her sights on the American jugular, Russia gains a new leader. Not just a president, he has been appointed Tsar, a signal to the world that the old imperial power is back - and plans to have her day.

At the same time, a mysterious killer brutally murders an innocent American family, literally blowing up the small midwestern town in which they lived. Just a taste, according to the new Tsar, of what will happen if America does not step aside in preventing Russia's plans to "reintegrate" her rogue states.

Onto this nightmarish stage steps special agent extraordinaire Alex Hawke, the only man - both the British and Americans agree - who can stop the madness.