When Max Iversson, an ex-soldier and mercenary who's now co-director of a small firm of freelance bodyguards, is introduced to north London nightclub owner, Roy Fowler, he senses immediately that the bloke's trouble. Fowler wants security for a meeting with a group of businessmen who want to buy his nightclub. Five grand for a couple of hours work is too tempting a proposition to turn down, so Iversson - against his better judgement - takes the work. However, when he and two colleagues accompany Fowler to their 'meet' in a deserted north London industrial estate, it turns out to be not so much a double-cross as a bloodbath. With Fowler and both bodyguards dead, Iversson grabs the briefcase containing the deeds to the club, and vacates the scene rapidly. But the suitcase is empty, which makes no sense at all. Three men have been shot, and Iversson wants to know why. So begins a hunt for answers that will take him into dangerous territory, and also into direct conflict with Detective Sargeant Gallan. Gallan's investigating the fatal poisoning by snakebite of a nightclub bouncer, who worked at Fowler's place. Leads are scarce and when they do appear, so do bodies. But Gallan's like a dog with a bone. He keeps digging away, unearthing in the process a murderous conspiracy that could provide the solution not just to this investigation, but to another, more heinous murder that's been lying amongst the ranks of the unsolveds for a long, long time. Gallan's playing with fire. And so's Max Iversson. Unknown to each other they are both heading towards a final confrontation with forces as ruthless as they are determined, and from which neither man is likely to emerge in one piece.