Climate change has kicked in and desperate governments decree that unauthorised energy use is punishable by death.

Absinthe Rhinohorn works with Bitcrime Division, and his day-job is to terminate 'with extreme prejudice' anyone caught wasting energy by mining cryptocurrency.

Absinthe is over-endowed with the capacity for action, but he is less able to comprehend matters of the heart or to navigate the corporate world.

When his affair with 'undercover' agent Turtledove is blown he loses focus – and that's dangerous when you're at the pointy end of Bitcrime Division.

Will Absinthe survive? Indeed, will the planet survive? And will he find love in the age of Bitcoin?