On an unusually cold December evening in Karachi, American journalist Jon Friedland is kidnapped from one of the city's poshest neighbourhoods. His captors plan to post a video of his execution on Christmas Day. The kidnapping has come at a bad time, embarrassing the Pakistani government in front of its US allies. The clock is ticking. The story careens through the streets of Karachi, taking the reader into a world of jihadis, corrupt police officers, and bloodthirsty political henchmen ? all jostling in a city where no one is quite what they seem.?