Just when DI Tom Mariner seems to be settling down with his new girlfriend . . . everything kicks off.

First, a badly decomposed body of a young woman is found in a Birmingham sewer. The police can't identify her and dub her "Madeleine."

Then an important politician and his wife are shot on an isolated road. "Vengeance is mine" is scrawled in blood at the scene.

And finally, a bomb explosion in the busy city kills five people, causing chaos and panic.

Can Detective Mariner and his team get to the bottom of crimes that will come very close to home for him and his team?

Mariner will need to bend the rules and risk everything to get to the truth. And in a thrilling conclusion, his own life will be threatened.