The frozen wastes of North America are Michael Collins's heart of darkness, a territory he maps with infinite precision in this new novel of murder and menace. Twenty years ago, when Frank was five, his parents burned to death in a remote Northern town. Now, his uncle is dead too, shot by a mysterious stranger with a dead man's name, a stranger who now lies in a coma in the local hospital. Frank heads North to dig up the past - back to the town where he never belonged, to find out why his uncle died, and why people shrink when they hear his name.