When a young woman’s half-frozen body is found on Fife’s Coastal Path, buried in snow and with the remnants of a rope manacle around her wrist, DCI Gilchrist takes the case. But Gilchrist’s investigation uncovers a bloody trail of shootings and executions that lead him to the heart of a human trafficking war. Links to Scotland’s foremost criminal family, the Home Office, and a ruthless killer intent on expanding his territory pull Gilchrist deeper into this murderous web until he comes face-to-face with the most dangerous man he has ever met.