Set in China, and ripped from today's headlines, comes a pulse-pounding debut that reinvents the spy thriller for the 21st century. A lone man, Peanut, escapes a labor camp in the dead of night, fleeing across the winter desert of north-west China. Two decades earlier, he was a spy for the British; now Peanut must disappear on Beijing's surveillance-blanketed streets. Desperate and ruthless, he reaches out to his one-time MI6 paymasters via crusading journalist Philip Mangan, offering military secrets in return for extraction. But the secrets prove more valuable than Peanut or Mangan could ever have known. . . and not only to the British.

In a world of lies, one man wants the truth. Journalist Philip Mangan is trying to stay out of trouble in East Africa, his reputation and his life in tatters. But when he is caught in a terrorist attack in East Africa and a shadowy Chinese figure approaches him in the dead of night with information on the origins of the attack, Mangan is suddenly back in the eye of the storm. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away on a humid Hong Kong night, a key British Intelligence source is murdered minutes after meeting spy Trish Patterson. From Washington, D.C. to the hallowed halls of Oxford University and dusty African streets, a sinister power is stirring, one which will use Mangan and Patterson as pawns -- if they survive. Deeply steeped in tension and paranoia, Adam Brookes's second novel is a remarkable, groundbreaking spy thriller.

Butterworth has a way with words. It's this capacity which makes his jet-black comedy such a fresh pleasure to hear and see.--Evening Standard

Better Birding reveals the techniques expert birders use to identify a wide array of bird species in the field—quickly and easily. Featuring hundreds of stunning photos and composite plates throughout, this book simplifies identification by organizing the birds you see into groupings and offering strategies specifically tailored to each group. Skill building focuses not just on traditional elements such as plumage, but also on creating a context around each bird, including habitat, behavior, and taxonomy—parts so integral to every bird's identity but often glossed over by typical field guides. Critical background information is provided for each group, enabling you to approach bird identification with a wide-angle view, using your eyes, brain, and binoculars more strategically, resulting in a more organized approach to learning birds. Better Birding puts the thrill of expert bird identification within your reach. Reveals the techniques used by expert birders for quick and easy identification Simplifies identification with strategies tailored to different groupings of birds Features hundreds of photos and composite plates that illustrate the different techniques Fosters a wide-angle approach to field birding Provides a foundation for building stronger birding skills

Asks a series of questions about various birds, and provides the answers under lift-up flaps.

The daughter of an artist and a scientist, and your own interesting self, Millie. What more could you need? But Millie isn't sure that Tom, her mum's boyfriend, is right about that. A new town, a school project due, an enemy called Tayla, a boy with the initials RH and Tom himself.... It's all too much even for an interesting girl like Millie. But as her father says, change is needed, and sometimes it's the biggest changes that make us who we are.

A visit from a peculiar tree frog leads an ordinary house cat named Copper into the outside world where she finds the adventure she's always craved, meets creatures she never imagined, and cleans some pretty gross stuff off her fur . . . somehow. Her story includes funny nature facts and a fun bonus section about scientific names.