As the son of a working-class family, Grey follows the rules for their own sake, using his position as Provost Marshal to gain a status otherwise unavailable to him in British society.

Despite being an enlisted man and undistinguished in civilian life, King has become a major power in the closed society of the POW camp through his charisma and intelligence.

Through the experiences of Marlowe, King, and other characters, the novel offers a vivid, often disturbing portrayal of men brought to the edge of survival by a brutal environment.

Officers from various parts of Britain's Asian empire, accustomed to having native servants provide them with freshly laundered uniforms daily, are reduced to wearing rags and homemade shoes.

A group of officers who stole money from their underlings are later seen greedily enjoying a meal of what they are told is mouse deer (rusa tikus in Malay), not knowing they are actually eating rat meat.

Grey, embittered by his failure to obtain a commission in the postwar British Army despite his suffering during the war, has become a radical socialist Member of UK Parliament and is also in Hong Kong on an official visit.

Unknown to Marlowe, Grey has become a secret Communist and a Soviet agent who tries to thwart efforts to improve relations between China and the West.