Derek Strange, black, in his fifties and ex-cop, runs a detective company in Washington.  He is hired by two women to do a surveillance job.  He senses there is more behind him, that this is a test.  He does the job to the satisfaction of the women, and they ask him to assist them looking for a runawaygirl, that is most likely in prostitution right now.  Together with his usual partner, Terry Quinn, white, in his thirties and easier agitated than Strange, they cross the path of Worldwide Wilson, a dangerous pimp.

Parallel to this is the story of a group of small drug-dealers, that decide to kill a man.  Unfortunately a young boy is "in the way", and both Strange and the boy's father have reason to go after the killers with more than normal eagerness.

Ugly, dark, pessimistic story.  Not so much because of the story, but because of the small insights in the life of the poor black community of Washington, where drugs and killings are ever-present, and not necessarily the best or the strongest survive.  The small insights we get are not the kind we get from Hollywood movies that combine violence with humour, this is much more real.  The following quote is translated from dutch:

But it was hard to keep on doing the right thing.  It was hard to walk in a certain way, talk in a certain way, to protect yourself all the time, if sometimes all you want to do is be young and have fun. Relax.

It's a thought of a young boy, and it illustrates the dark realism of the entire book.  Yet, it's not all doom and gloom, in fact it's a quite uplifting story in the end.  I think you'll like it.  I did.