 The motto of the Scottish kings - Nemo mi impune lacessit ("Don t Mess With Me") sets the tone for this story. It s payback time for DI John Rebus in his pact with the crime under-lord Morris Gerald Cafferty for his finding the person who put Rebus  daughter in a life-threatening coma, the result of a hit-and-run accident. This time, it s Cafferty s illegitimate son who was "six-packed" and killed, and Cafferty is calling in his chips from Rebus. Rebus has to cope with a backdrop of gun running, jailbreaks, left- and right-wing extremists, nationalists and other splinter groups who are spouting racist philosophies, and imported white-power fanatics who are perpetrating hate crimes.