The story begins in Moscow where a new organisation, Stalnaya Ruska , Iron Hand - a successor to Smersh - is planning a major act of terrorism which is intended to destabilise relations between east and west. Meanwhile, Bond is returning from Jamaica and his encounter with Scaramanga ( The Man with the Golden Gun ). He is aware of a world that is changing all too rapidly around him. The old certainties of the post-years have gone. The intelligence services are no long trusted. He is beginning to wonder if his "license to kill" may even be valid any more. As he ponders his own future, Bond is given his next assignment- discover what Stalnaya Ruska is planning and prevent it from happening. To do this, he will have to make the Russians believe he is a double agent and travel behind the Iron Curtain.

But first, he will have to persuade Sonya Dragunova that he is what he says he is. A psychiatric analyst as brilliant as she is beautiful, Sonya knows more of what's happening in Bond's mind than he does himself. She is also hiding secrets of her own. This is a love affair that is also a very dangerous game. And Sonya is working for a man who has played his part in two Bond novels but has never yet appeared. A Fleming creation, the evil genius behind Stalnaya Ruka may be Bond's most dangerous enemy yet .