Better the devil you know . . . or the one you don't?

For DI Colin Anderson, there's no such simple thing as right and wrong.

As his seemingly clear-cut conviction of paedophile Skelpie Fairbairn is declared unsafe, Anderson finds himself under investigation. Pressure on the DI mounts as an elusive criminal mastermind known as the Puppeteer seems to be the link in a series of alarming events: a gangster torched alive; a teenage boy tortured then dropped off a bridge; and the suicide of a cop working on a decades-old, unsolved child kidnapping.

When a young girl dies in Anderson's arms after being left to drown, he is at his wits' end. With Fairbairn as his only lead, is he prepared to dance with the devil to solve her murder?

"Praise for Caro Ramsay: The terrific cast of characters keep the action and detection compelling" - * Time Out *

"Brilliant in twisting the tension tauter with each page" - * Guardian *

"Ramsay handles her characters with aplomb, the dialogue crackles and the search for the killer has surprising twists and turns" - * Observer *

"Well drawn characters and a great sense of place set this series head and shoulders above most of the competition" - * Times *

"[Ramsay] is able to write scenes of heartbreaking tenderness nestled amid evocations of such grotesque violence that it is difficult to imagine that they can coexist as such sublime interlocking pieces of the whole..." - * New York Sun *

"At once humane, horrifying and exciting" - * Literary Review on Absolution *