August 1945.

The Japanese have surrendered and there's dancing in the streets of Sydney. But Billy Glasheen has little time to celebrate - his black marketeer boss has disappeared, leaving Billy high and dry. Soon he's on the run from criminals and the cops, not to mention a shady private army. They all think he has the thing they want, and they'll kill to get a hold of it. Unfortunately for Billy, he doesn't know what it is...but he'd better find it fast. Set in Australia the years following World War II, Peter Doyle's novel brilliantly explore the criminal underworld, political corruption, and the postwar explosion of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.