Marid Audran has become everything he once despised. Not so long ago, he was a hustler in the Budayeen, an Arabian ghetto in a Balkanized future Earth. Back then, as often as not, he didn' t have the money to buy himself a drink. But he had his independence. Now Marid works for Friedlander Bey, " godfather" of the Budayeen, a man whose power stretches across a shattered, crumbling world. During the day, Marid is a policeman... and Bey' s personal envoy to the police. His new position has brought him money and power which he would abandon in a moment if he could return to a life of neither owning nor being owned. Which, unfortunately, isn' t one of his options. It' s also not an issue. For something dark is afoot. Something that is sending the city into chaos. Helping a child-mutilator to avoid arrest. Sending a killer to murder Marid' s partner. Murdering prostitutes and savaging their remains. Signs point to the hand of Abu Adil-- the one man in the city whose power rivals Friedlander Bey' s. Whatever happens next, it' s not going to be good news for Marid Audran...