Another violent episode in the chaotic life of London private detective Nick Sharman. Starts with a shooting, quietens down as Sharman prepares to spend Christmas with his daughter Judith, then breaks into a frenzy again when our hero's ex-wife, Laura, and her family are killed in a bomb explosion aboard an aeroplane.
To take his mind off things, Sharman agrees to babysit a big-time American crook who is doing one last deal, this time on the side of the law. Things, of course, go horribly wrong, Sharman is once more on the run, and the only help he can get is from a Brixton Yardie gang. Then he discovers that his ex-wife's death was murder, rather than an accident. Talk about a body-strewn finale. But never fear, Sharman is left standing, to slaughter another legion of baddies in the next book.