FECKLESS JOURNALIST Hadley Arnold suspects he has an intriguing story on his hands when he finds Pakistani politician Marina Makhdoom in a sleazy Hong Kong bar. Then he loses her. Shrubs News Agency sends Hadley to Pakistan, where he becomes embroiled in the tendrils of surreal, deviant politics and at the whim of Makhdoom's vicious husband. An intriguing story spirals into something much more threatening.

British journalist Hadley Arnold, based in Hong Kong, is employed by a mysterious American "casting agent" to help destroy the reputation of an actor tipped to become the next James Bond. With only his questionable ethics and worse instincts to guide him, his quest takes him from sleazy bars in Hong Kong to deadly beaches in Sri Lanka. It's a tough job. Even for the man with the golden quote.

An English girl with a Chinese father gets caught up in the illegal gambling business. A benevolent gangster kills a dodgy dealer with a bow and arrow. It's Christmas in Hong Kong and journalist Hadley Arnold, king of the cynical hacks, is in trouble again.