Online rumours take on a life of their own in a country where truth and reality are as clear as the thick smog in this gripping cyber thriller.

When a young blogger posts an image online, he has no idea of the impact it will have on the nation – or that his life will collide with a delusional British businessman trying to sell the crumbling China miracle, and an American diplomat chasing cyber spies. When the image takes on a life of its own, it threatens them all – but mostly the paranoid Communist Party

The power of online ridicule and rumour, in a society where fake news clouds reality, is revealed; the veil beneath which corrupt politicians struggle for power, spies stalk cyberspace, and a bubble economy is at bursting point.

From Beijing’s smoggy streets to Shanghai’s historic Bund, from the casinos of Macau to the grim factories of southern China, this novel captures the madness, corruption and dangers of the People’s Republic and sheds light on the Westerners who have grown rich by looking the other way