Incest in Heidelberg Gardens, dark meetings of the Order of the Silver Serpent, the shadow world of the Conservative Alliance and its impact on the city. These are the themes of The7th Victim, a psychogeographic novel of Melbourne, seven chapters in the life of Xian Cross Michael. Xian is an apparatchik of the Alliance, but he's on the way out. He's served his purpose. His departure reverberates around his suburban enclave , shaking its foundations and influencing the behaviour of its inhabitants, in particular his sister Mary and her husband Leif Winther. Leif is the suicide heir of the Winther family, a dominant force in the Alliance, the political party shaping Melbourne. Or does the city shape the emotions of those within it and control its own future? Xian is the narrator of the novel, one of the victims - but not the seventh. Who are the others? And can Xian be trusted to tell the truth?