With commando-like precision, an international escape ring is breaking Britain’s top criminals out of jail. Saboteurs, murderers, traitors, spies – all vanishing without a clue. Special Branch has discovered that Harry Youngblood will be next, but they are helpless to stop it.

What they need is an agent with the cunning mind of a criminal and the cold heart of a killer. And the willingness to go to prison. Enter Paul Chavasse, who pulls off a spectacular robbery and gets seven years as Youngblood’s cellmate.

And when Youngblood is sprung, Chavasse goes too, following a bizarre trail that takes him across the country and out into the English Channel for a violent showdown.