The wickedest man in Africa has problems, and they can't all be solved by magic. Occult bookshop owner and black arts magician James Edward Guillaume reckons he has it all, and enjoys living up his reputation as South Africa's "wickedest man", a nice house, a business that's breaking even and the pick of all the pretty Goth girls and boys in Cape Town. Little does he know, a group of violent Christo-militants are panting at his heels, ready to destroy his carefully constructed fantasy world. To add mischief to his misery, he's unwittingly unleashed a terrifying demonic entity, and he alone holds the key to The Burning One's secret. To bring order out of the chaos, all James has to do is conquer his personal demons, teach a rather nasty, self-righteous sod a lesson in humility and find out whether he can win back the trust of an old flame. Only, as James discovers, getting back on top is hell on earth.

Montana Thomas falls asleep with the woman he loves in his arms, but wakes up to her bloody corpse. With the murder weapon in his hand and no memory of what happened, he needs his brother to help him deal with the confusion and grief. But Dakota is three thousand miles away deep in government testing. The stage has been set and all the players are in motion. All the unknown director has to do is sit back and wait for his true objective to be played out. In an expert game of cat and mouse, the Thomas brothers are subject to manipulation that has no equal. The only people they can trust is each other...if they can survive long enough to find the truth within the maze of misdirection and deceit.