Agent Sarah Black is back, and she's done asking permission.

Scarred by the events of her first official assignment, new recruit Sarah has cut all ties with the special liaison unit known as The Pelicans. Abandoning enigmatic leader Michael on the banks of the Thames and defying all orders, she vows to finish the mission he set her . . . alone.

Her dogged pursuit of the mastermind who eluded her in Georgia takes her to searing heat and civil unrest in west Africa, to a lawless land rife with war profiteering. When she hears that her mark is bankrolling a ruthless rebel leader, the only surprise is that it's her one ally, Elias, who delivers the news. How did he earn his place in the inner circle? Can she trust the intelligence he shares, that the endgame is more deadly than she could ever have imagined?

With doubt thrown on Elias and no backup from the Pelicans, Sarah must rely on raw instinct to neutralise the operation and burn the network to the ground. She needs to think three moves ahead to outmanoeuvre her ruthless opponent, and in a game without rules, every move counts.

But when the game is being played on a global stage with catastrophically high stakes for peace, for democracy, and for everything Sarah believes in, how far will she go to win?


PRAISE FOR THE PELICAN BLACK SERIES:

'It's just so exciting to see a powerful female character like Sarah Black . . . This is a fast-paced espionage thriller that feels fresh and exciting ' - Holly Watt

'Gripping, pacy, and intelligent, I couldn't put this down' - Daniel Aubrey

'The Recruit introduces an impressive, complex, resourceful recruit to British espionage, and a world that is shabbier, darker, more ambiguous and far more compromised than the MI6 of James Bond . . . this is a sharply written thriller that is also sharply contemporary' - Michael Russell