Johnathan Crawly has lost his wife to cancer. Not only that he has lost his son who, as a member of the armed forces fighting the war on terror, was blown apart by a roadside bomb. When rumours emerge that the troops are sent out on patrol with no body armour, without back-up or any reconnaissance first and no armoured cars Jonathan believes he has to do something.At this point Pamela McCallum's Next of Kin becomes one man's crusade against corruption and lies endemic in the MoD. As Barry Fowler, defence correspondent for the The Daily Monitor takes up the cause, the plot infiltrates the civil service and when a top civil servant dies the stakes are raised.