The nation is stunned silent when presidential hopeful James Kilcannon is shot dead point blank, while sharing the stage at a benefit concert with his rock star girlfriend Stacy Tarrant. Fiercely independent attorney Tony Lord defends the assassin in a sensational trial that erupts in to the media event of the decade. But the most shocking gambit ever witnessed in the history of television has yet to unfold. As America watches, a mysterious and ruthless figure known only as Phoenix takes to the airwaves in the ultimate act of high-tech terror. Holding the wife of a wealthy newspaper mogul and Stacy's manager hostage, Phoenix mounts a televised trial of his own - in which Stacy Tarrant and Tony Lord are the helpless defendants, millions of viewers are jurors, and - unless his chilling demands are met - Phoenix is the unstoppable executioner. . .