A NOTE ON the local geography. Frequent visitors to the French Riviera will be familiar with Marina Baie des Anges, the vast apartment complex that lies like a second Colosseum under the Nice Airport flight path. The Pierre Cardin Foundation,at Miramar to the west of Cannes, is difficult to find but well worth a visit, and must be one of the strangest buildings in Europe. Port-la-Galere, nearby, is another architectural oddity,with its honevcomb facades worthy of Gaudi.

A disturbing mystery awaits Paul and Jane Sinclair when they arrive in Eden-Olympia, a high-tech business park in the hills above Cannes. Jane is to work as a doctor for the executives who live in this ultra-modern workers' paradise. But what caused her apparently sane predecessor to set out one morning and murder ten people in a shooting spree that made headlines around the world?As Paul investigates his new surroundings,he begins to uncover a thriving subculture of crime that is spiralling out of control.

PART I

Visitors to the Dream Palace

Dr Wilder Penrose

The Brainstorm

A Flying Accident

The English Girl

A Russian Intruder

Incident in a Car Park

The Alice Library

Glass Floors and White Walls

The Hit List

Thoughts of Saint-Exupery

A Fast Drive to Nice Airport

A Decision to Stay

Riviera News

A Residential Prison

Widows and Memories

Refuge at La Bocca

The Street of Darkest Night

Elopement

The Grand Tour

Drugs and Deaths

The R oof Deck

The Confession

Blood Endures

The Cardin Foundation

Flying Again

Darkness Curves

Strains of Violence

The Therapy Programme

Nietzsche on the Beach

PART II

The Film Festival

A Dead Man's Tuxedo

The Coast Road

Course Notes and a Tango

The Analysis

Confession

A Plan of Action

PART III

The High Air

A New Folklore

The Bedroom Camera

The Streetwalker

Last Assignment