The book is based on two real life media barons – Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch,[1] who fought to control the newspaper market in Britain.

Lubji Hoch, the son of an illiterate Czech Jewish peasant, escapes the Nazis, changes his name to Richard Armstrong, and becomes a decorated British Army officer.

On the other side of the world, in Australia, Keith Townsend, son of a millionaire newspaper owner, is groomed to follow in his father's footsteps.

Sarah Lyall, in The New York Times, thought the work contained "leaden dialogue", but despite the "tantalizing echoes" of Armstrong and Townsend's real life models, the two men "seem about as vivid as bureaucrats in a wire-service story".

[2] Hugo Barnacle found evidence of a "dry sense of humour", but asserted that "Archer doesn't do insight or atmosphere, and gives the imagination very few cues.