Julian Raines was a golden boy from Eton, a renowned young poet who fled into the Spanish Civil War. Robert Florry was once Raine's friend. Now he is being blackmailed by British Intelligence into hunting down his old friend in Spain. MI-6 says Julian Raines has turned KGB spy.

The whorehouses of Barcelona are jammed. The bars are filled with laughter, and the streets are running with wine and blood. In the chaos, Robert Florry will find his old friend, unaware that a noose of espionage, psychological terror, and murder is being tightened around them by masters of the craft. A Soviet agent named the Devil Himself has gone rogue; an American mobster turned secret policeman is after a missing gold shipment; and all the rules have changed. Now there's only one way out of Spain: on a path of terror, lies and blood.