 A rock singer, Johnny Squares, who is also a drug addict is found dead of an overdose but there are signs that it was not accidental, so Harry is assigned to investigate. Initially Harry locks horns with Peter Swan, the man who directs the singer s videos. He also crosses paths with a television reporter, Samantha Walker and after being threatened with a law suit, the two of them form a rapport. Harry then discovers that Swan and several other people are playing a game called the dead pool, wherein they make a list of individuals, who are either in bad health or high risk professions, and turns out that Squares was on Swan s list and so are some other people who were murdered, and Harry s also on the list. And someone is following him.