Detective Samejima works alone...because no one will work with him. Shunned by his peers, scorned by his superiors, and feared by the yakuza, "The Shark," as he is called, works the dangerous Shinjuku section of Tokyo.

This second installment of the popular Japanese series finds The Shark embroiled in a conflict among a professional Taiwanese killer, called "The Poison Ape"; the Taiwanese detective who pursues him; and the hard-hearted boss of the Taiwanese mafia. At stake: Shinjuku, the already treacherous streets of which will semm like an esplanade compared to the battlefield they will become if war breaks out between the Japanese and Taiwanese mafias.

The Shinjuku Shark series carries with it an atmosphere unique to Tokyo, which has been a selling point for such pop phenomena as Gwen STefani's entourage of Harajuku Girls, films like Lost in Translation , and the Edgar-nominated Out by Natsuo Kirino.