The second novel in the "superior series" (The New York Times Book Review) featuring Inspector John Rebus-from one of "the best crime novelists at work today" (Michael Connelly).

A junkie, dead in an Edinburgh squat, the body laid out with ritual precision. A girl with a past, running wild and running scared.

But who cares? These are the dregs, a squalid society of addicts and derelicts, people long since disconnected from a society that is preoccupied with the new businesses and the new homes bringing prosperity to a city concentrating on advertising its quality of life.

Only Detective Inspector John Rebus senses something evil, something too dangerous to ignore that has to be investigated and brought up into the light. Something that may prove to be very closely connected indeed to the bright new world above. It is an investigation that will find him not just trying to solve a crime but fighting for his life.