The war in Vietnam is over. Yet the descendants of those who fought there are pulled into a new war - a war in a country whose name has come to mean unending conflict, unending brutality, and unending killing: Afghanistan. Into this tortured land flies the civilian pilot Max Hoffman. Out of luck and out of money, he is easy prey to the CIA, who recruits him to join its hidden war. Hoffman soon discovers the American intelligence officers have a hidden agenda - personal gain and profit at any cost. And they have no qualms about who gets sacrificed in pursuit of their ruthless aims.

Yet they discover that Hoffman is no pushover. His ancestor was the leader of famed Vietnam fighters the Devil's Guard. And Max discovers he, too, has a talent for warfare that makes him every bit as devious and deadly as the enemy. Hoffman discovers he has entered the shadow war, a war where death can come at the hand of friend or enemy alike.

This is a story about a struggle that sucks in men, both military and civilian, and spits them out as battle-hardened veterans - or corpses. It is the story of bitter, bloody fighting and the struggle to survive in the cauldron of Afghanistan. It's a story of both regular soldiers and private contractors, for these are the killers for hire once known as mercenaries. The Devil's Guard has returned.