Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard faces the most harrowing 24 hours of his life. With snipers on the loose, the stalking of a shopkeeper by her mother's murderer, and an explosive situation between two extreme political fractions threatening to erupt into civil war, Gideon really has his work cut out for him. But then his baby grandson is kidnapped, plunging Gideon and the baby's father into a frantic search and a juggling act between the public and the personal as violence hits the streets of the capital.

William Vivienne Butler (writing as J.J. Marric)follows in the footsteps of John Creasey and weaves a story as masterfully as the man himself. Invited to take over writing the Gideon Series on Creasey's death, Butler hoped to keep the memory of the Master crime fiction writer alive.