While it's hard to come up with much new in a serial killer plot, Millar distinguishes himself from amany of his contemporaries in the genre with taut writing and a memorable lead character.""--Publishers Weekly. ""Millar's private eye prowls the alleys and lanes of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ambience returns the hard-boiled novel to its tonal roots. . . Hard-edged crime with a vengeance, but it is handled with a finesse and deftness that Chandler devotees will admire greatly.""--Booklist. Young homeless women and drug addicts are being abducted before being brutally mutilated and murdered, and a city is held in the grip of unspeakable terror. The cops are unable - or unwilling - to apprehend the elusive serial killer who has never once made a mistake in his grisly calling - until now. By abducting Katie, the young daughter of private investigator Karl Kane, the killer has just made his first mistake, which could well turn out to be his last.