Just after lunch on a Tuesday in April, nine feet under water, police diverFlea Marleycloses her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing enough. Yet more disturbing is the discovery, a day later, of the matching hand. Both have been recently amputated, and the indications are that the victim was still alive when they were removed.

DI Jack Cafferyhas been newly seconded to the Major Crime Investigation Unit in Bristol. He and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a boy who has recently disappeared.

Their search for him - and for his abductor - lead them into the darkest recesses of Bristol's underworld, where drug addiction is rife, where street-kids sell themselves for a hit, and where an ancient evil lurks; an evil that feeds off the blood - and flesh - of others ...

Mo Hayder has written some of the most terrifying crime thrillers you will ever read. Her first novel,Birdman, was hailed as a 'first-class shocker' by theGuardianand her follow-up,The Treatmentwas voted by the Times one of 'the top ten most scary thrillers ever written'. In 2012Gonewon the prestigious Edgars Best Novel award.

Mo left school at 15 and has worked as a barmaid, security guard, English teacher, and even a hostess in a Tokyo club. She has an MA in film making from the American University in Washington DC and an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University. She now lives in England's West Country and is a full-time writer.

For more information on Mo Hayder and her books, see her website atwww.mohayder.net