Elemental rage, bloody Greek myth, man's greed and capacity for cruelty, the insane imaginings of a killer, all intermingle in this stunning new thriller from the bestselling author of Messiah to create a novel of stunning ferocity. A storm-tossed crossing on the North Sea; a catastrophic ferry accident; hundreds dead. Detective Chief Inspector Kate Beauchamp is one of the survivors but her ferocious fight to stay alive brings with it a high cost: a burden of guilt that she should live while some of her friends died; a terror of water; a frozen inner core that never seems to melt. When the body of a young female journalist is found in Aberdeen soon after the disaster, Kate insists on conducting the investigation -- partly to exorcize her own demons, partly because she feels a strange affinity with the victim. The killing is peculiarly brutal and the murderer has left a unique calling card: attached to the woman's neck is a poisonous snake. Into this emotional cauldron steps the last man on earth Kate wants to see -- her estranged father, Frank, in Aberdeen to conduct the marine inquiry into the sinking.
Was the disaster the result of a bomb, as claimed by the ferry-line's chairman, or is he trying to hide something? In a sweltering heatwave, Kate and Frank conduct their highly pressured investigations. But for both of them, danger is approaching fast -- a vortex of violence which will sweep them up and endanger their very lives.
- ISBN10 0451201906
- ISBN13 9780451201904
- Publish Date 7 November 2000 (first published 3 July 2000)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Books Australia
- Imprint Signet
- Format Paperback (US Mass Market)
- Pages 464
- Language English