"When Victor Ribe, an ex-junkie and World War I veteran, is mysteriously released from prison after serving fifteen years for a murder he didn't commit, the city he returns to is heating up for another kind of war. Prohibition has been repealed and the underworld is developing a new source of profits - illegal heroin trafficking. Meanwhile, the city's legitimate industries are launching an offensive against unionization and the specter of Communism - and they're not above fighting dirty.".

"When Victor's old Army buddy Freddy Stillman, a munitions salesman, reports a murder but can't explain why the body has disappeared, he unwittingly pulls himself and Victor into this bewildering swirl of corruption.

It is a conspiracy that encompasses everyone - from a rising politician who may have just run into the end of his career to a young journalist driven as much by the nonstop energy of the Metro desk as she is by the mystery of her father's suicide - in the book's vast, noir cityscape."--BOOK JACKET.