Robert Payne is an ex-FBI investigator who suddenly receives $10,000 dollars in an unmarked envelope. He is visited later by a glamorous blonde and asked to investigate the disappearance of her daughter.

Payne is given documents from an old FBI associate who began the investigation but is now dead.

An anonymous inmate of a high security prison is also introduced and he has neither conscience, morals or any human feelings whatsoever. The dealings in the prison are horrific, degrading and unbelievably cruel.

Both stories run parallel the prison interludes in Italics.

Within Payne's investigations, no person is, as they seem which confuses the ex-FBI man. He meets and is aided by a Native American Police Officer who understands the locals more intimately. Together they produce results although for a time the Police Officer is misled by Payne working undercover.

The two themes of the story finally converges and the reader is left right until the last minute to guess the identity if the inmate.

This book is a thoroughly good read; the Prison interludes do need a strong constitution! All the characters are believable and the book is hard to put down