During the long, hot summer of 1962, NYPD detective Pat Wynne catches the hardest case of his career. A young Cuban man’s body has been found on the High Line freight railroad, mutilated beyond recognition. As two other Cubans are murdered, both with the same tattoo of a worm and the words Cuba Libre, Pat begins to realise that there are larger forces in play.

Meanwhile, international tension is mounting and missiles are trained on America. New York is terrified.

Pat is not only investigating a disturbing, politically sensitive case: there may be a spy on his own doorstep. Are his instincts correct, or is he about to commit the ultimate act of betrayal?

A stunning recreation of New York in the 1960s, a masterful evocation of a world on the brink of the armageddon that was the Cuban Missile Crisis, Reggie Nadelson has woven a taut, gripping political thriller with her customary power and verve in what is perhaps her most beautiful love-letter to the city of New York.