First published 1992
New York police lieutenant Frank Janek faces another brutal case. Bodies turn up across the city, each victim killed in the same savage manner. The murderer leaves no fingerprints, no witnesses, no obvious connections between targets. But there is one clue. At every crime scene, investigators find a single dead weed, carefully placed like a calling card. Janek knows he's hunting someone methodical and twisted, a killer who takes pride in the signature ritual. The detective must decode the meaning behind these botanical markers before more people die. This follow-up to Switch puts Janek back in familiar territory, working the streets where violence lurks behind ordinary facades. The case tests his ability to think like a predator while staying human enough to seek justice for the victims.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: detective-story, police-procedural
Setting: New York
Period: 20th-century
320 pages · Hardcover · Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder