On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Rodion Oleshev is found shot dead - three holes in his head and heart. When it turns out the victim had very high government connections, the shit really hits the fan. A female Russian cop flies in from Moscow; Lucas Davenport flies in from Minneapolis, law enforcement and press types swarm the scene - and in the middle of it all, there's another murder. Could the two be connected? What is the Russian cop hiding from Davenport? Is she really a cop at all? Why was the man shot with fifty-year-old bullets? To find the answers, Davenport must follow a trail back to another place, another time, and battle the shadows he discovers there - shadows both very real and very deadly...