The 1950s - the era of the Cold War. The USSR is poised to begin the space race by launching the Sputnik satellite, Mao Zedong rules Communist China, and the greatest global fear is of the atomic bomb. Missing for nearly a decade, Fu-Manchu re-emerges in an attempt to wrest control of China from the accursed Communists. Nayland Smith pursues his enemy from London to Cairo to New York, determined to end his reign of terror. But there's something amiss with Smith - something his allies need to uncover before it's too late.