A truly stunning novel — spare, powerful and ultimately awesome — Ascent will propel Jed Mercurio into the first rank of British novelists. Yefgenil Yeremin is a flyer and he is a phantom. In the Korean War he shoots down more American jets than any other pilot in history. He becomes the legendary ace dubbed “Ivan the Terrible.” But the Soviet Union’s involvement in Korea must be kept secret, so his name remains unknown, his victories uncelebrated.