Greedy, corrupt and ambitious politician, Miles Bancroft, has got a dirty secret - an anonymous and powerful benefactor who has promoted and protected his ascension up the political ladder for more than a decade. This 'guardian angel' known only to Bancroft as Aquinas, has watched from the shadows as his beneficiary has risen, nearly, to the very top. Now, however, Bancroft has got a crisis on his hands; a problem which could halt his relentless march to Downing Street and the ultimate job. More than ever, he needs his mysterious fixer to prove his power and influence. During a prisoner transfer which Bancroft personally sanctioned, Miloslav Dobic, a vicious and sadistic serial killer escapes from custody after thirty years of incarceration. This Serbian pyromaniac makes it clear that his intention is to embark on an odyssey of flame-filled revenge against those who betrayed him at his trial. If he's successful, Bancroft knows that this will bring about a media-fuelled public scandal and an end of his political dream. In desperation, Bancroft turns to Detective Ray Bartholomew, the man who, as a rookie detective in the MET, caught Dobic three decades earlier. However, Ray is not the man he once was. Wallowing in a depressed malaise after the recent death of his wife, he is crippled by guilt and tainted with bitterness at a career that promised so much but, ultimately, delivered so little. Despite the reservations of those closest to Ray, he grasps eagerly at the opportunity to, once again, hunt down his old nemesis and in the process, bury his ghosts before he retires into obscurity. Can the old war horse, Bartholomew, shake off his paralysis and lead this most unorthodox of manhunts to snare Dobic before innocent people start to die? Can Bancroft avoid the most public of scandals and keep his political ambitions alive? Who is Aquinas? What does he want? And why has this puppet-master concealed his agenda from the world for so long?
