The strange and brutal murder of a young African man in Dublin reveals the dark practices of twisted killer... Shad, a young African man, is attacked and left for dead on the Dublin Mountains. He crawls to the nearest house and raises the alarm, but he later dies in hospital. Inspector Quilligan and Molly Power, of the Irish Police Force Murder Squad, launch an inquiry into this deeply disturbing murder. Was Shad the victim of a racist attack, sadism, a punishment, or some mysterious sacrificial ritual? His younger brother, Jude, is grief-stricken and mystified by Shad''s cruel death. He swears a solemn oath to find his brother''s killer, even if it costs him his life...