Germany, 1947. A ruined nation, divided by its conquerors, waits upon a future it has no part in shaping. Already, the Allied demarcation lines are hardening into something else, and foot soldiers are being recruited for the emerging struggle between ideologies. Some men shape themselves to fit a new world; others cover their faces and hide from the consequences of their crimes.Otto Fischer has only half a face, and no idea where to point it. He is an ex-policemen who hates police work, a former parachutist in a country with no air-force, a forcibly retired intelligence officer with no secrets to keep - except one. In Berlin, his old friend Freddie Holleman lives under a false identity. He is a rising star in the German Communist Party and one of the few effective police officers struggling to establish order in a lawless city. But as he attempts to bring to justice a killer of children he becomes a pawn - a disposable piece in a game for which the rules have yet to be set down. Fischer can see only one way to save Holleman, and that is to give both sides what they want without giving them anything. In the fog of a strange new war, information is currency and he knows everything. He just hasn't made it up yet.