Someone is brutally executing young men around the slopes of Diamond Head: a vicious stabbing, a sadistic hanging, and a horrific auto-da -fe. Detectives Nick Keone and Paul Noa of the Special Division Detective Team [SDDT] Honolulu Police Department are convinced that the victims are gay. When the three victims turn out to be members of a notorious gay-bashing gang, The Gang of Four, both detectives join forces with detectives Philip Michael Carnegie and George Maikai'moku on a desperate search to catch the killer who appears to be on a horrific campaign of revenge. The team follows a twisted trail that takes them from the luxurious heights of Tantalus - the volcanic slope that overlooks Honolulu - into the sordid depths of Hotel Street in Chinatown. Their search also takes them into the middle class world of the naval and marine encampments on the island and into the world of young gay runaways. In the novel's dramatic denouement, the team, with the help of an unexpected ally - the fourth gay basher - uncovers the identity of the killer on the verge of committing his final, sadistic murder.