An outrageous tale and at its centre the fact that even those you are closest too are not always as they seem. Adelaide "Addy" Banks, a young American actress, arrives in London to spend Christmas with her favourite person, her widowed Aunt Rose. Rose had sent an invite to her niece saying she was in Paris but that she'll be home by the time Addy flies in from New York. But on her arrival at Rose's fashionable mews home in Knightsbridge, her aunt isn't there. As she settles down to wait, Addy receives two unexpected callers. The second one - disguised as an Arab woman - attacks her, dragging her through the house and upstairs bedrooms, seemingly searching for something that Addy knows nothing about. Luckily she's rescued by neighbours who have heard the commotion and called the police. And that's just the beginning of Addy's world being turned completely upside down! What follows is a fast moving plot involving the London head of a worldwide security network, ex CIA men and former KGB agents working for megarich Russian oligarchs. There's also a Yakuza gangster out to avenge the death of the woman he loved and the infamous Charon, a freelance hitman who's planning to escape his life as a paid assassin. And there's a missing USB stick containing details of offshore bank accounts worth a billion dollars which the Russian oligarchs want returned to them. Somehow, the author Rennie Airth keeps all these threads spinning out until drawing them all together as the body count rises and Addy - with the aid of a London policeman she finds very attractive - tries to figure out what exactly is happening to her and why. This is a powerful standalone story with a complex plot that demands the reader's attention. Oh - and there's a brief diversion about a much loved teddy bear. Despite the deaths and mayhem, this is a fun read and recommended to anyone who enjoys a puzzling mystery thriller. My thanks to Severn House Publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.