If there's trouble in the Nightside, chances are private detective John Taylor will be there, and this time it's no different. But Taylor's latest job is a strange one, even by his standards. Taylor has been hired to escort an elf known as Lord Screech across the Nightside. Not too difficult a job, you might think, but Walker - the powerful, omnipresent Voice who rules the Nightside on behalf of the Authorities - is determined to stop them, and what should be an easy journey soon spirals into a battle of epic proportions. But surviving this is the least of Taylor's worries, for Walker is dying, and he wants Taylor to be his successor. He's the obvious choice, the one man all the inhabitants of the Nightside know - and the one many of them fear. The problem is, Taylor doesn't want the job; it comes with more trouble and enemies than he's willing to deal with. But Walker is set on his choice, and he'll go to great lengths to get his way...