by Mo Hayder
First published 2008
Police diver Flea Marley discovers a severed hand nine feet underwater in Bristol. The attached body is nowhere to be found. When the matching hand surfaces a day later, forensics reveals both were cut from a living victim. Detective Jack Caffery, newly assigned to the Major Crime Investigation Unit, identifies the hands as belonging to a missing young man. Caffery and Marley begin hunting for the rest of the victim and his captor. Their search pulls them deep into Bristol's criminal underworld, where addicts trade sex for drugs and street children survive however they can. As they follow the trail, signs point to a disturbing occult practice emerging in the city's darkest corners. The investigation forces both officers to confront the brutal realities of addiction and the lengths people will go to feed their dependencies.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, investigation
Setting: Bristol
Kindle Edition · Atlantic Monthly Press
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, violence