CIA director Thomas Stansfield is dead - and many individuals in the nation's capital are pleased to hear it. However, their happiness is short-lived because Stansfield's successor - his protege Dr. Irene Kennedy - plans on pursuing Stansfield's goals - a fact the late director's fiercest enemies refuse to accept.

Israel has discovered that Saddam Hussein is close to entering the nuclear arms race - and they've vowed to stop the Iraqi madman before he can get his hands on the ultimate weapon. With the Middle East teetering on the precipice of chaos and devastation, the president of the United States is forced to act.

The commander-in-chief's secret weapon? None other than the CIA's top counterterrorism operative, Mitch Rapp. With the haunting specter of World War III looming, Rapp races against time and impossible odds - navigating the deadly alleys of Baghdad, tearing through the corruption-riddled streets of Washington D.C., and taking drastic measures against anyone who gets in his way.