Charley Case is the hard-boiled investigator of the future. But of a future that follows the 'Big One of Ninety-Seven' - the quake that literally rips California apart and makes LA an island. A future where 'cred' status is everywhere and without it, you're a big fat zero. It begins when Charley is offered a simple job ... Apartment sitting. Simple. But before he's finished, Charley will have been embroiled in a trail of blood that leads directly to the steps of the Oval Office, and more sudden death than a popular abattoir sees in a wet Los Angeleno fortnight.