The plot centers around three characters: Danny Upshaw, an L.A. deputy sheriff who investigates a string of brutal sex murders, working outside the law in his efforts to catch the killer; Turner "Buzz" Meeks, a disgraced ex-cop who now works for gangster Mickey Cohen and begins a dangerous affair with Cohen's mistress Audrey Anders; and LAPD lieutenant Malcolm "Mal" Considine, Upshaw's former partner, who struggles do the right thing in an environment of deception, paranoia and brutality.

The murders are linked to the United Alliance of Extras and Stagehands (UAES), a left-leaning labor union targeted by the task force, when an actor affiliated with the organization, Reynolds Loftis, matches the description of the suspected killer.

Upshaw's investigation, however, is cut tragically short when a feud between county and city police leads to him being pegged for the killing of a corrupt LAPD detective who questioned his sexuality.

The investigation also provides a fictional solution to the Sleepy Lagoon case–it's revealed that a young Masskie witnessed LAPD lieutenant Dudley Smith committing the murder, a racist hate crime in retaliation for the Latino victim sleeping with his niece.

It's Harry Bosch between hard covers, taking up where film noir left off as it introduces a trio of warped, cynical cops hopping aboard the Red Scare bandwagon."

Now he's back with an even more powerful and compelling novel of greed, dark passion, and murder....James Ellroy has gone from one of the most impressive crime writers of the 1980s to a major literary voice of the twentieth century.