One day Belmonte, a former South American Marxist guerrilla who now works as a bouncer at a seedy Hamburg strip joint, is approached by an old man in a wheelchair who makes him an offer he can't refuse. He is told the story of the theft of precious medieval coins during World War II. Now, fifty years later, the thieves are trying to cash in their secret. Belmonte's main rival is a former Stasi agent who is trying to recapture some of his past "glory". In the spirit of fellow exiles Ariel Dorfman (Death and the Maiden) and Paco Ignacio Taibo (Four Hands), this is an "engrossing, thoughtful noir novel" (Publishers Weekly) that subtly probes the nature of tyranny and exile while delivering a thrilling tale.