Rod McInnes returns to present day Wessex, scene of his first darkly satirical novel 'Undue Influence' for another amoral tale of heroes, whores , eccentrics, idiots and scumbags. The year is 2013. Cuts of 30% to South Wessex Police have led to the uniquely unfathomable strategy of crime statistic friendly 'Stratified Community Policing'. It is a very bad time to be a copper and when a drug smuggling operation at the Kingston Harbour Marina goes very badly on the same night as an armed raid on a metals trader a few miles away lives are changed and lost. These events are played out against a background where in the coldest spring on record the already cash strapped council is bankrupted by inept financial management and unable to maintain services. There is rubbish on the streets but no grit and salt on the roads. As events unfold integrity is readily compromised, heroism is exploited while the undiscovered guilty continue to prosper.