Back in the bad old days, in mid-nineties New York, seven young cops fresh to police work were given a ticket to ride in one of the worst precincts of the East Bronx. They became The Wild Geese: a tight-knit crew of mavericks, looking out for each other and their 'family' of neighbourhood locals.
Within five years, all the WGs had moved on. Now only a hard-core of five remain in contact, crossing paths in life and work, held back in both by a dogged obsession with their 'Whites'. Every cop has a personal 'White': those who had committed violent crimes on their watch and then walked away untouched by justice, leaving the detectives heading into retirement plagued with guilt, calling victim's families on anniversaries and desperately searching for ways to finally nail the perpetrators.
Now, Billy Graves, the only WG still in the NYPD, is content simply to do his job, he has settled into his gold shield and a comfortable family life, his wife Carmen's mysterious, tragic past aside. But when the murder of a fellow WG's 'White' falls into his lap, the group's desperation to tie up their own loose ends intensifies; old wounds open and friendships start to fracture. At the same time, Billy begins to realise that his family is being stalked by a mysterious figure intent on destroying their happiness, and then that within his own inner circle is someone else's 'White'.
Richard Price, one of America's most gifted novelists, has always written brilliantly about cops, criminals, and New York City. Now he is poised to win a huge following among all those who hunger for first-rate crime fiction.