Chris Treiger would never forget the eight words that changed his life.

As soon as he heard the ebullient voice at the other end of the phone, he'd wondered how to cut short the call. Bill Brewster, a high-pressure PR head-hunter, had been hounding him for weeks about a phenomenal career opportunity, paying vast sums of money, for which he was ideally suited. Chris had heard it all before. Telling Brewster he didn't have time to run all over town, Brewster told him he wouldn't have to. Before coming out with eight words to which Chris had returned many times in his head, marveling at the perverse logic of them. Eight words in the form of a question to which there was only one possible answer: "Isn't your career worth a hundred-yard walk?"

Chris Treiger is offered the job of a lifetime. The chance to work with charismatic sportswear billionaire Nathan Strauss comes with big money and a smart car attached. But on the day Chris celebrates his new role, Strauss sends shock waves through the business world by falling off the balcony of his ninth-floor hotel suite.

It's too late for Chris to back out of the job with Lombard, the UK's most powerful PR firm. Reporting to Jacob, Nathan's brother, is definitely not what he signed up to. And when his ex-girlfriend, journalist Judith Laing, reveals damaging evidence about his new bosses, he is torn between disbelief and outrage that he is part of a multi-national cover-up. Powering to an adrenaline-pumping climax, David Michie's debut novel from the year 2000, has more dazzling twists and turns than a spin-doctor avoiding the truth.