When John Nichols arrives to identify the body of an old friend, he is instantly caught up in the wreckage of Alan Musgrave's life. This is the side of Paris the tourists don't see, where everyone has a past but very few count on a future. But what can he expect from a man who bled to death in his own excruciating S. & M. stage show? Now there's a maverick police lieutenant on the prowl who thinks that Musgrave was murdered. Guerin might not look like much, but he's one of the few honest officers on the force. As the horrific extent of police abuse is revealed, the race is on to find the link between a slew of apparent suicides - and the key to it is buried deep in Nichol's past.