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?
