Two men on the wrong end of the same machine. Neither one is Sam Jameson, and neither one gets rescued.

Descent. Peter Kittredge is not a spy. He is a former State Department economist living on inherited money in Cologne, with a bloody mary waiting at the bakery by ten. He is also owned. Years ago in Caracas the CIA took him apart and made him sign something he cannot un-sign. On Friday morning he wakes beside a murdered stranger, and spends six days working out which of his own people put the body there.

Monarch. Tonight I am a banker. Rented suit, fake name, a beautiful woman on my arm who is being paid to be there. The job is simple: get a crooked Dutch banker into a hotel room and let Fredericks do the rest. Fredericks pays in gold. I have done worse for less.

Then the cabbie takes a wrong turn, and six days later I am wanted in four countries and out of people to trust.

Two standalone novels from the world of the million-selling Sam Jameson series. No agency, no backup, no rescue arriving on schedule.

For readers of John le Carré, Mick Herron, Barry Eisler and Mark Greaney.

Both of these books are about being owned. Neither man has an agency behind him. Neither is written as a hero. Both are very funny until the moment they aren't.