Mark Doyle and The Lion and The Locust - Martin Swan

Empires don't fall anymore.
They are harvested.

When a foreign government collapses overnight without a single shot fired, former MI6 operative Mark Doyle knows something is wrong.

Coups don't happen quietly. Power doesn't transfer peacefully.

Not unless someone has already decided the outcome.

Drawn back into the shadows, Doyle follows a trail that leads far beyond politics - into a hidden network of financiers, contractors, and unseen "architects" who no longer wage war... but design it.

From the streets of London to the deserts of Africa, Doyle uncovers a terrifying truth:

Behind it all lies a system known only in fragments - a structure that feeds on instability, profits from collapse, and moves silently as empires bleed.

The lion is dying.
And something else is feeding.

As Doyle gets closer to the truth, allies disappear, massacres are staged, and the line between economics and warfare vanishes completely.

But the deeper he digs, the more dangerous one question becomes:

Who are the Architects... and what happens when the harvest is complete?

A gripping Cold War espionage thriller filled with tension, realism, and global stakes, Mark Doyle and The Lion and The Locust raises the stakes of the series - and ends with a revelation that changes everything.