Alexander Lebedev is best known as the Russian businessman who bought the Evening Standard and The Independent newspapers. A former KGB intelligence officer in the USSR's London Embassy, the book is mainly a memoir of Lebedev's hair-raising experiences as someone who aspires to show that an "honest banker" is not an oxymoron. He describes the dirty tricks used against him and the attempt to assassinate him and details how the Russian and international political and business elite live. Lebedev openly tells of his relations with leading politicians, businessmen, and cultural figures in Russia and abroad, and investigates corruption scandals, dodgy multi-billion-dollar deals, and contract killings. He describes facing five years of imprisonment for a minor fracas during a television talk show, and how celebrities (Elton John, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, John Malkovich, Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry) rallied to his defense. He discusses policemen and secret policemen slipping him memoirs and transcripts of episodes which would otherwise have remained unknown. It is ultimately a portrait of a political system which ensures that genuine attempts to improve the fortunes of his country and its citizens are built on sand.