In his final hours in the Oval Office the outgoing President grants
a full pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker
who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison.
It¿s a controversial move, but what no one else knows is that the
presidential pardon ocomes as a result of enormous pressure from
the CIA. They claim that Backman may have obtained secrets that
compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite
surveillance system. Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country
in a military cargo plane; he is given a new name, a new identity,
and a new home in Italy. Eventually, once he has settled into his
new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the
Russians, the Chinese and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it
does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman
will survive - there's no chance of that. The question the CIA
needs answered is: who will kill him?
A nail-biting story The Sun A killer combination of sheer story-telling nous and no-nonsense prose Independent Grisham hasn't lost his touch Daily Mail A welcome return to what he does best Observer a great story-teller Daily Telegraph
