John Pellam had been in the trenches of filmmaking, with a promising Hollywood career – until tragedy sidetracked him. Now he's a location scout, travelling the country in search of shooting sites for films. When he rides down Main Street, locals usually clamour for their chance at fifteen minutes of fame. But in a small town in upstate New York, Pellam experiences a very different reception. His illusionary world is shattered by a savage murder, and Pellam is suddenly centre stage in an unfolding drama of violence, lust and conspiracy in this less-than-picture-perfect locale

Hollywood location scout John Pellam thought the scenic backwater town of Maddox, Missouri, would be the perfect site for an upcoming gangster film. Until real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralysed. Pellam had unwittingly wandered onto the crime scene just moments before the brutal hits. Now the feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him. Trapped in a town full of sinister secrets and deadly deceptions, Pellam fears that deal will imitate art, as the film shoot – and his life – race toward a breathtakingly bloody climax

Every New York City neighbourhood has a story, but what John Pellam uncovers in Hell’s Kitchen has a darkness all its own. The Hollywood location scout is hoping to capture the unvarnished memories of longtime Kitchen residents in a no-budget documentary film. But when a suspicious fire ravages an elderly woman’s crumbling tenement, Pellam realises that someone might want the past to stay buried. As more buildings and lives go up in flames, Pellam takes to the streets, seeking the twisted pyromaniac who sells services to the highest bidder. But Pellam is unaware that the fires are merely flickering preludes to the arsonist’s ultimate masterpiece – a conflagration of nearly unimaginable proportion…