It is the run-up to Christmas when two seven-year-old boys are abducted from the streets of Glasgow. For DI Colin Anderson the case is especially disturbing, because the boys look so much like his own young son Peter.

When a simple house fire turns into a full-scale murder investigation, and with cold and flu season having taken many officers off the street, the force is stretched to breaking point. DS Costello's hunch is the crimes are connected, and a killer is ingeniously hiding his trail. As the squad continues to struggle working both cases, for DI Anderson the nightmare is about to get terrifyingly close to home.

"The terrific cast of characters keep the action and detection compelling" - * Time Out *

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

"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 *

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