It is the first in a series of linked novels centering on the private investigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike.

Cole is a tough, wisecracking ex-Ranger with an irresistible urge to do what is morally right.

[3] The title of the novel derives from a poem by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō which is quoted at the start of the novel: Winter downpour; Even the monkey needs a raincoat.Cole is hired by Ellen Lang to find her missing husband and son and in the end, with Cole and Pike's help, she kills former matador and crime boss Domingo Garcia Duran, the man responsible for her husband's death and her son's kidnapping.

The facts behind the events leading to Ellen's husband's involvement with Duran and his death are revealed and her son Perry is restored to her.

Robert Crais' original outline for the novel had Joe Pike getting killed at the end, so that he would have a moment of tragedy that would push Elvis Cole on to the rescue of the boy.