When wealthy Sarah Erroll dies a violent death at her home in a posh part of Glasgow, the local community is stunned by what appears to be a truly gratuitous act. Heavily pregnant with desperately wanted twins, DS Alex Morrow is called in to investigate and soon discovers that there is more to Sarah's murder than it first seems.
On the other side of town, Thomas Anderson is called into the headmaster's office at his boarding school to be told that his tyrannical father - a banker responsible for the loss of many livelihoods in the recession - has committed suicide by hanging himself from the old oak tree on the lawn of their home. Thomas returns to the family home to find his mother and sister in a state of numb shock. The head of the household is dead, yet their initial reaction is not that of grief, but relief.
As Alex Morrow slowly unravels the connections between the two cases, she faces her greatest challenge yet as her work and home lives collide with potentially disastrous consequences.
Read MoreOne of the most exciting writers to have emerged in Britain for years - Ian RankinA literary West Lothian question: why do Scottish writers dominate British crime fiction? With Denise Mina at least, the answer is pure class - DAILY TELEGRAPHConfirms Mina's place in the premier division ... atmospheric, intense and full of the disturbing flavour of inner-city lowlife - GUARDIANPowerful, passionate and compelling. Mina can chill your blood and break your heart in the same sentence - Mark BillinghamThe plot is unrolled artfully ... the writing is lucid, and the minor characters breathe with an almost Dickensian life - SUNDAY TIMESSplendidly written ... magnificently readable - THE TIMESSomething special ... A tour de force - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTRemember the name. This is a major talent heading for the top - LITERARY REVIEW