Miles Flint is a Watchman, which is another word for a spy in his line of work. He is good at what he does and he has an innate ability to "just disappear." However, recently he has been preoccupied with marital concerns and plagued with a general disinterest in life, including his own. The tension and distance in his marriage is second only to his distance from any kind of personal clarity about himself, and who he is. Miles is lost and it is affecting the quality of his work.

However, Miles is still very good at his job, and when an assignment goes awry, and results in the death of a foreign official in London, Miles suspects that something is wrong at the agency. The cover-up that follows is more than just the agency trying to dodge negative press and public criticism. Suddenly, capable and competent agents are reassigned, or they just disappear. Then Miles is sent on what is supposedly a routine mission to Belfast. He realizes, too late, that his assignment is anything but routine. Suddenly he finds himself in deadly danger, a target, an expendable extra -- and the chase is on. The mystery as to the real agenda of the head of the agency unravels, and Miles finds himself in the midst of a life- threatening crisis.

Ian Rankin maintains his high standard of Edgar Award-winning excellence with this novel. The story moves quickly and the mystery is skillfully developed. Rankin's description of Miles as a distracted and lost soul is accurate to the point that I could feel Miles' despair with the way his life was going. The picture the author paints of the strained relationship between Miles and his wife is realistic and adds to the initial dark mood of the story. Conversely, as Miles begins to understand what's happening around him, he becomes empowered and more like his old self, as his wife remembers him in the early days of their courtship. The character transformation of Miles, from a defeated man to a take-charge guy is substantial, but not so profound that it detracts from believability. The characters have their issues and personality flaws, which make it easy for the reader to identify with them and buy into the emotions of the plot. When Miles gets closer to figuring out what is really going on within the agency, the action picks up dramatically. The sequences that follow from this point forward all the way to the end of the book are fast-paced to the point of being exhilarating, at times. WATCHMAN was a fun read, and I truly had difficulty putting it down.