The novel is set in 2018 and depicts the relationship between Nat (né Anatoly),[2] a 47-year-old member of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and Ed, a young man with whom he plays badminton weekly.

[3] After their matches, Ed rants about Brexit and Donald Trump, to which Nat quietly listens and tacitly agrees.

Through their questioning and Nat's continued investigation, Operation Jericho is revealed: a plan for the UK to use covert means to undermine the EU at the US's behest.

"[6] Robert McCrum wrote of the book; "Le Carré delivers a tale for our times, replete with the classic seasoning of betrayal, secret state shenanigans and sad-eyed human frailty, all baked into an oven-hot contemporary thriller that’s partly inspired by the machinations of 21st-century Ukraine, today more than ever the fatal crossroads of great power politics.

"[8] Michael J. McCann found the book "a pleasure to read," but noted that the secondary characters were underdone and the ending "feels hurried and rather truncated.