When animal crimes investigator Kieran Yeats takes on the case of Captain Isobel “Izzy” Tremblay, a decorated Canadian Air Force pilot shot down over Iraq, she enters a frightening world of international terrorism. Jihadists, or Daesh as they call themselves, have followed Izzy from Iraq to her home in Victoria, Canada, kidnapped her PTSD dog Beatrice, and sent a note demanding money for her safe return. “We are Daesh,” they proudly proclaim in their ransom note. “We have seized your dog. But happiness! You can buy her back.” In five days, the jihadists say, they want $10,000 for Beatrice’s safe return. Double-cross us, they warn, and Beatrice will meet a “fate worse than death”. Kieran dissuades Izzy from paying the ransom, and with the help of her friend, former RCMP constable Miranda Blake, begins the hunt for Beatrice. Their search leads them to Russian dogfighters, a trio of militants making IEDs in a Victoria loft, and, finally, to a group of jihadists on the RCMP’s watch list. But the jihadists prove elusive, and as time ticks away, Kieran despairs: will they be in time to save Beatrice?