A contemporary tale about money and power and its corrupting influences. Set principally in New York and London, it finds a bank chief executive and a tabloid publisher at odds over a loan the bank has given the publisher. Enter a cunning Russian oligarch eager to expand his influence in New York; he makes the publisher an offer he can't refuse. An investigative reporter, acting on a tip, then probes this financing and delivers a front-page expose that puts the main characters in a negative light. Along the way, there is financial and sexual blackmail, lively dialogue and description, and an-often satirical take on the lives of the well-heeled and well-connected.