Hardcover UK, first printing and the true first edition. Very fine (unread) copy in very fine jacket. Not a book club, remainder or ex-library copy. A "story with two stories" about two protagonists, one a soldier and the other a doctor, in a world where social order is breaking down into chaos. As an added wrinkle, both are agents from the advanced Culture civilization. "This could be SF, of a rather sneaky sort...filled with murders, subtle poisons, and political machinations with a very personal edge." Locus - September 1998. Beautiful full color, wrap-around jacket illustration by Mark Salwowski. Award History: 1998 British Science Fiction Award Nominee (lost to The Extremes by Christopher Priest).