Detective Inspector John Rebus understands that murder is usually very simple. Passion and greed are the most common motives, but when the bodies begin to pile up - two suicides, one murder, and the mysterious death of an inmate in one of Scotland's largest prisons - Rebus realizes that there's nothing simple about his latest case.
What Rebus knows is that it all began with a petty embezzlement scheme. What he discovers is that beneath the killings a conspiracy is hidden, one that runs all the way to the top of the political ladder. And the cost of unraveling this complex web could be terrifyingly high. Everything he holds dear - his job, his life, even his young daughter - is at stake.