At 38, Detective Mick Garvey had a career damned by a sexual indiscretion, a bitter ex-wife bleeding him dry and a job he didn't understand any more as computers took precedence over fundamental policing. Then there was Frank Cooper, still green and impressionable, just out of uniform, to be taught the age-old skills of the detective to carry on the tradition before it's too late. At times like this, Garvey could've used a breathing space but then came the murder at Blackenstone, the bungled investigation and the savage killings which were to follow. As the two detectives are drawn into a web of intrigue, politics and power struggles, only Garvey's stubborn streak can save them from being thrown to the wolves. And in the final desperate moves, with everything at stake, there's only one code - Garvey's code.