It had to be now. Away from prying eyes. Now or never. The watcher’s focus adjusted quickly to the gloom. Harry was still gassing. ‘Always in the bag,’ he heard him brag. Well, you are going to be in a very different bag soon, thought the watcher. Harry said his goodbyes. This was it.

The murder of a promising footballer, son of Brighton’s highest-ranking police officer, means Detective Superintendent Jo Howe has a complicated and sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more desperate following devastating blackmail threats.

Howe can trust no one as she tracks the brutal killer in a city balanced on a knife edge of vigilante action and a police force riven with corruption.