An organisation that doesn't exist.

A spy that can't be caught.

Years ago, a spy was born...

1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. But what Kite uncovers is more terrifying than anyone expected...

Now he faces the deadliest decision of his life...

2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88's existence and go after Kite - but Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier - or watch his family die.

In a battle unlike anything he has faced before, Kite must use all his skills to stay alive.

'A spy for the 21st century' Daily Mail, Books of the Year

'Wonderfully taut, exciting and up-to-date' Spectator, Books of the Year

'An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller' Financial Times, Books of the Year

'BOX 88 is so good. Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers' Ian Rankin

'A wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming's most ambitious - and his best - yet' Mick Herron

'Charles Cumming has breathed new life into the spy novel' Ben Macintyre

'Atmospheric and full of sharply realised characters' Sunday Times

'A clever thriller' Sun

'Intelligence, grace, and stunning verisimilitude' Gregg Hurwitz

'An engaging hero' James Swallow

'All the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller' Charlotte Philby

'Sharp-eyed and satisfying' Henry Porter

'A great new spy hero is born' Amanda Craig

'Ideal for anyone nostalgic for their first love and the whiff of Marlboro Lights' The Times

Alex Preston