A worker is killed in the striking coalfields of Wales. Some months later a government minister thought to be connected with the death is also shot. Lewis Redfern, once a radical, now a political analyst and journalist, pursues the sniper, a lonely hunt that leads him through an imbroglio of Civil Service leaks and international wheelings and dealings to a secret organization: a source of insurrection far more powerful than anyone could have suspected — the world of the Volunteers. A compelling thriller, The Volunteers is also an engrossing reminder of the conflict between moral choice and political loyalty. Through his obsessive pursuit of justice, overcoming bluff and counter-bluff, Redfern finally encounters the truth about himself.