1970, St Pauls, Bristol: a new decade, and JT Ellington is determined it will be a quiet one. He’s stepped away from the private-eye game to scratch a living, respectable at last, as a school caretaker. Still his nights are full of torment—guilt and ghosts that no prayers will banish—but it’s not until the past comes calling in the unwelcome form of Superintendent Fletcher that JT’s resolve is truly tested. Fletcher has a job for JT—and the hard-nosed cop can’t be refused. A young man, Nikhil Suresh, has disappeared hours before his wedding; rumors abound and his family is distraught. JT is to investigate. With what feels like blood money in his pocket, JT is plunged deep into a demi-monde of vice, violence, and forbidden passion. An extraordinary, malevolent enemy is intent on destroying him. Now—seeking survival and redemption—JT must play as dirty and dangerous as those who want him dead.