A Practised Smile

'What percentage chance is there for this individual, the one you've met, the one whose qualifications you're validating, the one you're tracking through contacts - what percentage chance is there that this very individual could be, in the near future, directly culpable for the deaths of others?' The 1984 IRA bombing against members of the British government has led to a wider trawl for intelligence recruits, and twenty-two year old Charlotte unwittingly represents a new academic stream. But the initial welcome from her boss in the British Council in Jordan is guarded and then increasingly patronising and dismissive. Jack, a cynical time-server on his fifth three-year placement, is very clear about what he expects - follow routines, trust in experience, and wait for a promotion and a rapid return to London. Nominally an exams officer, Charlotte will soon understand that whatever she does requires a certain degree of complicity. And in a world where loyalty has its limits, the line between the real and the invented grows fainter every day. Based entirely upon factual terrorist incidents, this book offers a fictional explanation of a pivotal moment in history - the increasing rejection of individual judgment and a growing reliance upon secondary information.