The dramatic new novel from the best-selling author of For Valour.

Mines are impartial killers and present a lethal challenge to volunteers in the Special Countermeasures of the Royal Navy. These brave, lonely men either have something to prove, or nothing left to lose. Meet Lieutenant-Commander, David Masters -- haunted unrelentingly by a split second glimpse of the mine that destroyed his first and only command, H.M. Submarine, Tornado. He now defuses the treacherous "beast" on land, and teaches the same deadly science to others who too often die in the attempt.

Lieutenant Chris Foley, mine-laying off an enemy coast in ML366, rolls on an uneasy sea with a release bracket sheared and a lie-mine jammed, listening to the menacing growl of approaching E-boats.

And Sub-Lieutenant, Michael Lincoln, who's been hailed as a hero, dreads being exposed as a coward even more than he dreads the unexpected booby-trap, or the gentle whirr of the activated fuse -- marking the last twelve seconds of his life.