Matt Latham. Foreign correspondent and part-time spy for Australia’s Secret Intelligence Service. A flawed anti-hero with a heart of gold, plagued by a self-destructive impulse to expose lies and corruption - at any cost.
1986: In the jungles of Nicaragua, a tiny village is the target of a deadly attack by US-backed Contra forces.
2022: Matt Latham flies to Dallas to ghostwrite the memoir of his friend, former ambassador Bryant Callahan - on track to become Texas' next US Senator. But he soon begins to mistrust the man he once revered. Latham's research uncovers long-hidden connections between Callahan and the CIA; and, just as worryingly, the dysfunctional relationship between the powerful diplomat and his wife Aleja, a former Miss Cuba, 23 years his junior, is impossible to ignore.
An orphan, adopted as a child, Aleja consoles herself with dreams of finding her birth family. Now, she makes a desperate plea for Latham's help in tracing her origins. He agrees to travel to Havana on her behalf, unaware that his search for answers will unlock a Pandora's box of politically sensitive secrets - and raise a ghost from his own past. Before long, Latham is on the run for his life.
Meanwhile, in Mexico City, Luis Escobedo prepares to travel to America. A name in the news has triggered a memory - and with it a thirst for revenge.
What did Latham discover at the Cuban orphanage? Why is a foreign intelligence service intent on keeping it a secret? Who is Luis Escobedo? And is any of this related to events in Nicaragua decades ago?
In this edge-of-your-seat political thriller, Matt Latham finds himself navigating a labyrinth of tragic events. Ultimately, he must confront the morality of his own choices and ask himself the question: are some secrets best left buried?