Arson detective Norm Strom is always one step behind a serial arsonist who is responsible for torching several buildings in the city. He tracks down known arsonist Johnny Eagle and turns him into his informant, hoping to use one torch to catch another.

Eagle tells all, revealing the pleasure and satisfaction that he gets from setting and watching a raging inferno. Detective Strom relies on Eagle and his other informants to help him discover the true identity of the serial arsonist. To keep the cops off his back, Johnny Eagle rats on his own friends. Is he playing with fire on both sides of the fence?

Detective Strom and Johnny Eagle each tell their own version of the story, putting the reader right in the middle of a dangerous game of cat and rat.