D I Faraday is gone and the police are left reeling. As his boss attempts to limit any possible PR damage his one time shadow on the force, ex D C Winter is ever more concerned that he may have made the biggest mistake of his life throwing in his lot with the city s drug baron, Bazza McKenzie.

Especially as Bazza is becoming increasingly desperate and violent as his empire begins to crumble under the weight of austere times. And, in the person of D S Jimmy Suttle there s a new will at the heart of Portsmouth s embattled police force to nail Bazza once and for all, the one man Faraday was always desperate to bring to justice.

Graham Hurley s novel is about loss. It is about the decisions we make in life, about the impact our lives have on others. Hurley s trademark authenticity has been allied to an ever increasing sense of drama as he charts the lives of his vivid characters and paints a stunning portrait of a city and a country at war with itself. A war which throws the police into the front line. Happy days?