After the brutal murder of her grandfather, feisty Stephanie Merlin, a television journalist, hunts down his unknown killer. Before she knows it, Stephanie finds herself amid the glittering world of the de Veigas, a family whose fabulous fortune from tin, banking and pharmaceuticals affords them all the power, privilege and pleasure money can buy.
But the gilded facade conceals a web of deception that spans decades and stretches across three continents. As Stephanie plunges further into this corrupt paradise, she discovers a plan with horrifying implications.
Aboard the de Veiga's super-yacht and on their Eden-like Amazonian estate, Stephanie learns of their vast medical foundation, supposedly set up to heal humanity. But is that the truth? Or has it been set up for more sinister purposes?
Set in the power-and pleasure preserves of the Old and New Worlds, and filled with insights into the private lives of the richest of the rich, this is Judith Gould at her most mesmerizing.