Chechnya: an incorruptible security officer is assassinated. Berlin: a small child grieves for his father. In the East: an obese psychopath sets his feet on the first rungs of his criminal career. A frightened Russian woman seeks DCI Hanlon's help in finding her missing husband. Hanlon's not keen on the case, until she hears a name she recognizes only too well. Arkady Belanov, sadistic pimp and owner of an exclusive brothel in Oxford. When DI Enver Demirel, her former partner and friend, disappears, Hanlon is forced into an uneasy alliance with the London underworld to rescue him from the blood-stained hands of the Russian mafia.