From the moment he walks into his Manhattan office to find his beloved secretary Velda knocked unconscious, and a brutally murdered stranger occupying his office chair, PI Mike Hammer is on the warpath. He's 'in a blind fury ready to blow somebody into a death full of bloody flying parts'. Whoever killed the stranger knew exactly the kind of message he wanted to leave, and he added a note for good measure - a note that implicates Mike.

Hammer finds himself pitted not only against the CIA, but also the State Department and the mob. He's going to need all the help he can get - including the latest IT - in his hunt for what may be the most vicious killer he's ever met.