But how bloody and thankless the new Ambassador cannot imagine – until he takes up his last appointment. There, in a city of bombs and bullets, curfew and corruption, he sees his only friend assassinated – and finds he must betray a man who could have been his friend.

          Isolated by his power, and by his distaste for the sharks in the CIA, the Ambassador fights a daily battle with his conscience.

          For the city is Saigon: and the Vietnam war has years still to run…..