Last Days of the Lotus - Paperback

Saigon, 1968, on the eve of Tet. The Vietnamese New Year draws near, and the city waits, restless and uneasy, the air thick with rumours of ceasefire and the taste of betrayal.

Smith has served his time in the secret world - an Australian case officer grown weary of the lies that pass for intelligence, and the loyalties that dissolve at first suspicion. When a colleague is murdered and leaves behind a single word in a blood-stained notebook, Smith finds himself drawn back into the game he thought he'd abandoned.

The trail leads him through bars, alleys, and burned-out villages, deeper into a war that has already devoured truth and loyalty, where every debt must be paid.

As the city slides towards chaos, Smith must decide what is worth saving and what must be left behind.

In the tradition of The Quiet American and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Last Days of the Lotus is a taut, atmospheric novel of espionage, moral fatigue, and slow-burning dread. It is, ultimately, a requiem for the idea of victory.