Moments after his conviction for a murder he did not commit, at a trial presided over by a judge determined to find him guilty, Benjamin Weaver is accosted by a stranger who cunningly slips a lock pick and a file into his hands. In an instant, he understands two things: Someone wants him to hang – and another equally mysterious agent is determined to see him free.

After a daring escape from eighteenth-century London's most notorious prison, Weaver must face another challenge: to prove himself innocent when the corrupt courts have already shown they care nothing for justice. Unable to show his face in public, Weaver pursues his inquiry in the guise of a wealthy merchant seeking to involve himself in the contentious world of politics. Desperately navigating a labyrinth of schemers, crime lords, assassins and spies, Weaver learns that, in an election year, little is what it seems and that the truth comes with a staggeringly high cost.