Martin Sivok finds himself tied to a chair inside a deserted warehouse. For now his best hope is figuring out who put him here --- and staying conscious long enough to confront them. To stay awake, he reviews the past year of his life: evading the law in the Czech Republic by running to Glasgow, settling into a borderline respectable relationship with his landlady, and getting back into the life at the very bottom of the criminal ladder, alongside Usman Kassar, a cocky, goofy kid anxious to prove himself. The job should be simple: smash heads, grab cash, run. The trouble with being two outsiders is, you don't always know whose heads are too dangerous to crack, or whose cash is too hot to handle.

Nate Colgan is a violent man, a “smart muscle” for the Jamieson organization. But now, with its most powerful individuals either dead or behind bars, things within the organization are beginning to shift. When Nate is reluctantly appointed its new “security consultant,” he can little imagine how things are about to unravel. It begins with an execution, and soon the various factions within the organization are sent into chaos. But out of the confusion comes one clear fact: a new group has arrived in Glasgow, and in their quest for power they are prepared to ignite a war. But who is behind the group? And why has the calculating Zara Cope --- the mother of Nate's child --- suddenly appeared back in town?