MAO'S MISTAKE When Chairman Mao ordered his arch-rival's plane to be shot down back in 1971, he unwittingly set in train a series of events that, forty years later, threatens to hand over control of China to a ruthless group of powerful men whose only objective is to get their hands on the country's enormous wealth. They must time their coup to coincide with the opening of the Olympic Games when all the eyes of the world are focussed on Beijing. SO THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS Mack Macdonald, a former Special ops soldier is an unwitting pawn in the game, and the beautiful Sally Chong, an expatriate Chinese with a mysterious past who suddenly enters Macdonald's life, becomes a key figure in the race to thwart the plot, while behind the scenes, a spymaster and the leader of a secret society are pulling the strings. The action sweeps across the globe from the exotic ancient cities of the fabled Silk Road to the bustling streets of modern day Istanbul, from Melbourne's Chinatown to the secluded world of Oxford's academia. AND THE CLOCK KEEPS TICKING ... ...