Condition black - Gerald Seymour

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pick

It is only month before Saddam Hussein instructs his troops in invade Kuwait, and the Iraqis will stop at nothing to achieve nuclear capability. They are actively targeting scientists from the West who can help them acquire the intelligence they need.

When Bill Erlich, a young FBI agent, learns that one of his closest friends has been murdered in Athens, he vows that he will find the killer, even if it means breaking the rules. The man he suspects is a British mercenary known as Colt, who has been working for the Iraqi government, and is as elusive as he is dangerous.

Erlich follows Colt to England, where he has been dispatched to recruit a disaffected scientist. Determined to bring Colt to justice at whatever cost, Erlich crosses an invisible line beyond which there is no return...