The first corpse was found hooded, bound, and naked, kneeling on a bare mattress in a seedy hotel room. This was no ordinary murder but rather the work of a killer driven by something special, something spectacular. The fact that the dead man was a convicted rapist recently released from prison only increases the bizarre nature of the gruesome crime ... and the police's reluctance to apprehend the perpetrator. It's the body count that troubles Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, as brutal slaying follows brutal slaying, each victim more deserving than the last. Though he has no sympathy for the dead, Thorne knows he must put an end to a cruelly calculating vigilante's bloody justice before time runs out -- and a horrifically efficient serial killer targets a life worth fighting for.

馬剋．畢林漢 Mark Billingham

英國最負盛名的犯罪小說作傢之一。曾任演員、電視編劇和單口相聲演員，齣生於英國伯明罕。

曾經以《懶骨頭》（Lazy Bones）與《死亡消息》（Death Message）兩度獲得柴剋斯頓犯罪小說首獎，並以《膽小鬼》（Scaredy Cat）贏得夏洛剋獎的最佳偵探獎。他獨立製作的驚悚片IN THE DARK也入選為年度時代佳作。

探長湯姆‧索恩係列則是「星期天泰晤時報」書籍暢銷排行榜的常勝軍。本書與《探長索恩 貪睡鬼》（Sleepyhead）已改編為熱門電視影集，由男星大衛．莫瑞賽（David Morrissey）飾演湯姆．索恩。目前馬剋與妻子、兩名小孩住在北倫敦。

作者官網：www.markbillingham.com