When Police Colonel Vikorn puts Sonchai in charge of the highest profile criminal case in Thailand - ending trafficking in human organs - Sonchai suspects his boss of ulterior motives. And, of course, he's right: Vikorn is running for governor of Bangkok, and his American handlers insist that he needs a dramatic crime-fighting success right now. But just as Vikorn predicts, Sonchai's 'goody-two-shoes Buddhist conscience' takes over. The sting operation begins.

Sonchai travels to Phuket, Hong Kong, Dubai, Monte Carlo, and Shanghai, drawing in a host of players, including an aging rock star wearing out his second liver, and a pair of Chinese twins known as the Vultures - mysterious, diabolical, albeit gorgeous co-queenpins of the international body-parts trade. But closer to home, things are getting dicey for Sonchai: his ex-prostitute wife, Chanya, is craving a dose of 'the street.' Is Sonchai enlightened enough - forget Buddhism, think jealousy - to let her into his own compromised and compromising world?

All will be revealed in John Burdett's mordantly funny, fiendishly entertaining new novel.

Genre: Mystery