From the introduction: You are coming to an Earth that at first glance looks more peaceful, more prosperous and much more perverted than the world of your origin, but at least the peaceful part is something of a lie. The major superstates across the world are being manipulated into an arms race meant to turn into a genocidal world war and, in preparation for this coming conflict, there is a lot of unpleasantness already happening in the dark corners of the world, where intelligence operatives fight and kill each other (and unfortunate witnesses now and then) for control over the ancient secrets that might make a difference.