**’Banks once again demonstrates his extraordinary dark powers of imagination’ *Sunday Times*** Hisako Onada, world-famous cellist, refuses to fly. And so she travels to Europe as a passenger on a tanker bound through the Panama Canal. But Panama is a country whose politics are as volatile as the local freedom fighters. When Hisako’s ship is captured, it is not long before the atmosphere is as flammable as an oxy-acetylene torch, and the tension as sharp as the spike on the cello… Praise for Iain Banks: **’The most imaginative novelist of his generation’** *The Times* **’His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers’** Ken MacLeod, Guardian **’His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent’** Neil Gaiman **’An exceptional wordsmith’** *Scotsman*