The hero of this explosive tale is David Cleveland, investigator for the Jockey Club, who goes to Norway in response to an appeal from Oslo racecourse. A British jockey, riding there, has disappeared, and with him has gone a day's takings from the turnstiles. The Norwegian police have found no trace of him, and the case is being filed as just one more unsolved theft. David Cleveland is a last resort. He goes without much expectation - and finds himself in waters as dark and deep as the fjords.