New Orleans, Summer 2005: New FBI agent Franco Patrese is intrigued when the attractive PA to the city's richest man requests a secret meeting. She has information regarding an unthinkable conspiracy, and will trust no-one else. The next day she's dead – the victim of a bizarre ritual murder – and Patrese finds himself drawn into the murkiest of underworlds, piecing together connections between the city's seediest players and its top officials.Only two things remain certain – there are huge secrets hidden in these cesspools of corruption and crime, and some people will do anything to keep them that way.