Nick Shannon, on parole for the mercy killing of his sister, has had his financial talents seconded to the Fraud Squad, where he finds the case he's asked to investigate as intellectually stimulating as watching paint dry in a dark room. Then a small-time fraudster decides to evade arrest by defenestration ( the act of throwing someone out of a window ) and it looks as though his crime wasn't so petty after all. In fact it looks as though he was part of a major scam set up by an ex-police officer - and the man who stole the wife of Nick's boss. Wary of other people's personal agendas, Nick traces a web of deceit and corruption to a surprising, thrilling and cliff-hanging finale.