Alex Malone is brain damaged from a career as the now-defunct Pittsburgh Penguins’ legendary goon. Now he's a cop because that’s the only job that’ll take him. His presence is enough to raise a citizen's outrage level, putting him at constant risk of being banished or, even worse, sent to the mysterious Maze.

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His headaches bring the type of pain that makes asphyxiation by belt seem like an upgrade. The bouts of unfettered rage interfere with his ability to complete even the simplest task of wrangling the centenarians with the dying brains and bionic bodies terrorizing the citizens.

 

Since The People assumed control of the Republic of America, death before 130 has become a thing of the pre-Revolutionary past. Cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injury — all eradicated thanks to tax dollars funding medical research instead of wars and unjust justice. If only they could figure out the brain…

 

So an experimental treatment sounds good to Malone. It feels good, too. The blackouts that would end with bleeding knuckles and a citizen unconscious on a sidewalk are replaced by vivid memories. The only problem is the memories aren't his. They’re filled with violence and torture that not even the undefeated champion of ice boxing could imagine.

 

With a sense of purpose not felt since his days as the league’s premier ice boxer, Malone is determined to find out what’s going on in his head even if it makes him a target of the outraged mob and the powerful sadists that manipulate it, and leads him to horrifying truths that should have remained lies.