The highly plotted, seasoned, and rather badly written story of an egotist and his perfect crime, as Henry Mueller, who wants power and money but doesn't want to work for it, finds an answer in brilliant Dr. Bartok, a psychiatrist, whom he resembles physically and whose science he has studied. Mueller carefully cases his victim, his habits,- murders him- and steps into his shoes. Women at first place him on a tightrope as he takes on Bartok's two mistresses, but he handles them with ease, at the same time carrying on the lucrative practice without detection. However, when the dead man's niece appears, Mueller loses his head for the first time, seduces her, is responsible for her death- by abortion- and the suicide of a colleague. Unmoved by all this, he enlists in the Army, achieves further fame, but gets his payoff when he realizes that Mueller is till the nonentity- and that Bartok has acquired the power and the glory. This makes possible an almost impossible crime, has a certain curiosity appeal, if on the cheap side.