A young man is found brutally murdered, his eyes gouged out. A student of Icelandic history in Reykjavik, he came from a wealthy German family who do not share the police's belief that his drug dealer murdered him. Attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir is commissioned by his family to find out the truth, with the help - and hindrance - of boorish ex-policeman Matthew Reich. Their investigations into his research take them deep into a grisly world of torture and witchcraft both past and present, as they draw ever closer to a killer gripped by a dangerous obsession... 'Exhilarating... matches Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs in the bloodchiller stakes. ' - Waterstone's Books Quarterly 'Given the dark subject matter, this is a surprisingly funny book... a quirky and interesting read. '-Guardian