Private eye Matt Scudder is investigating a very unusual kidnapper. Big-time dope dealer Kenan Khoury is a wealthy man, and it comes as no surprise when his wife, Francine, is kidnapped and a ransom demanded. Kenan pays up and his wife is duly returned to him - in small pieces, left in the boot of an abandoned car.

Soon Scudder is on the trail of a pair of ruthlessly sadistic psychopaths whose insanely cruel games have only just begun ...