After a year of working at home in order to control his synaesthesia (the rare neurological condition that causes his brain to crosswire his senses), DCI Lapslie gets a visit from Emma Bradbury, summoning him back to active duty. A well-known television reporter has been brutally murdered and the top brass think Lapslie is the man to investigate the crime. With no witnesses and no suspects, Lapslie finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Then, in short order, he has a second murder on his hands: a man is found dead in a train-station bomb explosion. Despite all odds, Lapslie begins to suspect that the two high-profile cases may be connected. Under pressure to produce results and with the media bearing down on him and his synaesthesia going wild, Lapslie approaches his breaking point, but the solution to what’s beginning to look like the crimes of an especially evilÒa€”and diabolically creativeÒa€”serial killer remains elusive. To make matters worse, the killer’s next target may be much closer than Lapslie could possibly guess.