Joe is a private detective who after a visit from the obligatory attractive but mysterious woman is tasked with finding the author of the pulp-fiction series "Osama bin Laden: Vigilante". In this alternative history which seems to have split some time after world war two, the horrific terror attacks like 9/11 and 7/7 have never happened. The leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group is simply a fictional character in a book written by an elusive author known as "Mike Longshott".
The more Joe searches for Mike the more he realises something very strange is going on, just who is this Longshott author and why do people keep mentioning "refugees" wherever he goes.