WHO CAN AGENT CORMAC TRUST?

On Cull, each day could mean death. Ferocious insectile monsters roam the volatile planet, and the low-tech human settlers are desperate to escape to their ancestors' starship - orbiting tantalizingly out of reach. An entity calling itself Dragon assists them, but what are its real motives? Agent Ian Cormac is assigned to find out, while facing multiple threats to the Polity. And why is his old enemy, a master biophysicist, really here?

Meanwhile, imperfectly resurrected by Jain technology, Mr Crane is back from the dead. The brass killing machine is haunted by a violent past he can't fully forget or truly remember. He seeks to heal as his new master, Cormac's biophysicist foe, sets him an improbable mission: to hunt a dragon on the frontier world of Cull. But who will survive the imminent confrontation?

'Trademark Asher . . . Leaves one wanting much, much more'
Starburst

'Fizzing with intelligent ideas . . . Mind-boggling, fascinating - and irresistible'
Kirkus Reviews