A rising star in the NYPD, police captain Nora Riter is smart, strongwilled, and beautiful -- with a private life that threatens to torpedo her career. A streetwise actor/conman, Nicky Ossman faces a stretch in prison for assaulting a vice officer. Nora needs Nicky to help her re-establish personal and professional control, as she takes on a case that's leading her to the meanest of Brooklyn's streets. And Nicky has no choice but to go along, joining Nora Riter in a very dangerous game that is about to ensnare them in a wide net of secrecy, lies, and betrayal cast out from the top levels of the department -- as they conspire to end the reign of Red Hook's most feared criminal: a loan shark, sadist, and pathological killer in steel-tipped boots; an untouchable madman called Blaze.