In this chillingly plausible thriller, CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick
Herron proves he "never tells a suspense story in the expected way"
(The New York Times Book Review).
When a highly classified espionage operation breaks down, an MI5
prisoner escapes from a transport vehicle on the busy ring road outside
Oxford. Now an armed and desperate man is on the loose. He has taken
refuge in a preschool, where a collection of teachers, parents, and
students were about to start their day. No one understands what Jaime
Segura wants, and he refuses to speak to anyone but an MI6 spy named Ben
Whistler, a coworker of Jaime's boyfriend, who has gone missing. Now, as
law enforcement descends upon this quiet corner of Oxfordshire, Jaime
holds the preschool hostage as his collateral, and one teacher, Louise
Kennedy, finds herself in the terrifying position of protecting innocent
children from the terrible decisions of the adults around them. As
Louise steels her nerves and weighs her every decision, she also begins
to put together the fragments the truth from the chaos around her--and
no one is fiercer or more resourceful than a teacher on the trail of
justice.
