Craig Hughson has vanished. While Michael Stern desperately searches their yacht for any trace of his friend, he discovers a hidden bookcase containing journals that reveal an explosive narrative. As part of a grander scheme to justify excessive military reprisals, a covert wing of the Secret Intelligence Service has conducted operations responsible for the most horrific terrorist events the world has ever witnessed. Flashing back over thirty years, the extremely traumatic events that moulded the lives of Craig and another man, Calum Hunter, play out in explosive fashion. Traversing the globe through a series of savage acts, sexual deviance, and emotional ordeals, we gradually discover small ways in which these two men may be more alike than we first imagined. Subterfuge dives headfirst into the realities of deeply entrenched emotional trauma, domestic abuse, and the very real danger of one's rapidly deteriorating mental health impacting one's dearest interpersonal relationships.