One misty Hawaiian morning, a homeless wanderer, one of the burnt-out ghosts that populate the remote Puna District on the Big Island, smokes his last joint and walks into a desolate rain forest. His dead body later turns up, half-eaten by feral pigs and wild dogs. Just another tragedy. Another wasted life that no one cares about. Except this particular lost soul once saved Jack Devlin's life, and his father happened to be a comrade of Devlin's boss, William Chow the head of Pacific Rim Security. Now the unexplained death of Billy Cranston is a case for Jack Devlin and Pacific Rim.

Devlin travels to the north shore of Oahu to meet with Billy's father, Jasper Cranston, a retired Brigadier General devastated by the murder, hoping that Devlin can somehow find killers who think they're above the law. But when it comes to avenging his friend's death, so too is Jack Devlin.

With the help of Billy's half-sister, the exotic, beautiful Leilani Kilau Cranston, and a Pacific Rim freelancer, Tuulima Mafa, a giant-size Samoan fighting machine, Devlin searches through an Hawaii tourists never see and wouldn't believe if they did. This isn't the thin veneer of picture-perfect beaches and luxurious destination resort hotels that most associate with Hawaii. This is the real Hawaii where racism, poverty, and a century of pent-up rage is part of every day life. This is the Hawaii were crimes and savagery erupt that stun even Jack Devlin.

In the wild Puna District of the Big Island, Hawaii, Devlin tracks Billy's last days to the beat-out town of Kahoa, a center of rural poverty, burnt out Vietnam vets, ruthless ex-marijuana growers, smugglers, radicals, and Hawaiian-sovereignty activists. The deeper Devlin digs, the more dangerous and bizarre it gets, until Devlin finally comes face to face with the real reason Billy Cranston died and the power that still controls the Hawaiian Islands today...the U.S. Military.

The only way Devlin can avenge the crime is to unleash the "dogs of war" and fight a final battle in which everyone has to face death, including Devlin.