As civil war between Caesar and Pompey engulfs the Roman world, Gordianus the Finder receives an anonymous message informing him of the death of his son Meto, who has been acting as a double agent for Caesar. As famine and slaughter threaten the blockaded city, Gordianus is drawn into the intrigues of exiled Romans and duplicitous Massilians. His only friend is Hieronymus, the doomed scapegoat chosen by the priests of Artemis to bear the sins of the populace and save them from annihilation. It's wartime, and Gordianus finds himself far from home, trapped in a city under siege, submerged in an exotic, claustrophobic, hothouse atmosphere populated by a cast of desperate, treacherous, sometimes bizarre characters. The theme is deceptive appearances.
Nothing is what it appears to be.
No one can be trusted. Interweaving subplots culminate in a series of startling climaxes, but the most shocking development is the unforeseen revelation produced by Gordianus himself. At the novel's end, the uncertain destiny of the Finder and his family mirrors the precarious future of Rome itself.