This is one of those rare novels that totally immerses its readers in the life of an extraordinary central character.

Creasy, formerly a first-rank soldier of fortune, drifts in a Europe where every road, it would seem, only turns him back into the twilight of his private Gethsemane. Middle-aged, physically and morally debilitated by drink, he seeks the help of his former comrade-in-arms, Guido.

In the present-day Italy of kidnappings and ransoms, good professional bodyguards are demanding and getting exorbitant salaries because the protection they provide makes it possible for wealthy Italian families to obtain kidnap insurance at reduced rates. Through certain agencies "premium bodyguards" are available at about a quarter of the rate paid to the top professionals. Creasy is persuaded by Guido to become the body guard of little Pinta Balletto, the daughter of an Italian industrialist.

At first, Creasy keeps up his shell—and his drinking. The taciturn, emotionally blunted man refuses the friendship of the little girl. Her curiosity denied, her affection frustrated by the dour American bodyguard, Pinta eventually succeeds in breaking through Creasy's self-imposed crust of reserve. She has tamed her "bear" and made a friend of him, and Creasy, despite himself, has been drawn out of the twilight and into the sunshine of a personal involvement. He feels for the first time in years that there is some good left in the world.

When his young charge is kidnapped, all of his regenerated life-force becomes centered on revenge. He sets out on a private war, determined to kill every individual involved in the kidnapping—a number which grows to include an entire Mafia organization. Despite the violence of his mission, we cheer Creasy at every step of his bloody vendetta, hoping he will survive to live out the life he has so recently discovered.