Personal grief has to be put aside when brilliant detective Red Metcalfe is faced with a series of grisly and sadistic killings. Each body provides a taunting clue to the murder method to come and the police team and their families could be next on the hit list.

DCI Charlie MacIntyre has paid a terrible price for putting the wrong man behind bars - and he won't be the last. Now the stakes are raised for Red to track down the sadistic murderer whose aim is to be judge, jury and executioner of the guilty. But the killer is always one step ahead.

DCI Red Metcalfe's renowned ability to get under the skin and into the minds of deranged killers is put to the ultimate test when he is forced to confront an old adversary - Pace Tierney, an enemy Red thought he had put inside forever. An inquiry into prison brutality, conducted by DS Kate Beauchamp, suddenly explodes into a terrifying ordeal when inmates, led by Pace Tierney, riot and take hostages.

The death toll at the hospital continues to rise as the chief suspects are murdered. DCI Red Metcalfe uncovers the unwelcome connection between the victims.

When the team arrive at a van abandoned on landfill sight they soon realise this is a case, the like they have never seen before. The van door is locked, the glass darkened, an angry buzzing inside. Phoebe is in the front seat, wasps crawling in and out of her open mouth: SAVE ME is written in blood on the windscreen. Red's analytical skills are stretched to the limit as he tries to fathom the workings of the mind of a killer determined to create their own Hell here on earth.

The serial killer continues the killing spree, and leaves a clue: the victims and their fates are inspired by the circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno.

Assisted by an authority on Dante, DCI Red Metcalfe knows the "sin" and "punishment" of the next victim, but struggles to establish how the victims are being chosen. Will he be able to locate the killer before the macabre sequence is completed?

He used to be celebrated for his finely tuned instincts and tenacity of character, but on his latest investigation, his personal demons are haunting him. DCI Walker recently drove his beloved Palestinian girlfriend, Salma, and her brother, Khalid, from the Gaza Strip through a border checkpoint. Khalid got out of the car and blew himself up, along with scores of innocent people. In the chaos, Salma and Joseph were separated. Now back in England, he's convinced she used him as a pawn.

Joseph starts work uncovering the links between the recent murders, in the concluding part of this urban thriller starring Marc Warren.