Addictive, superbly-plotted and uniquely atmospheric crime thriller, set in Manchester, from a local voice.

The system is broken - and it wants you dead.

An elderly ex-soldier is found dead in his home starved, alone and long forgotten. No one notices. No one cares.

The same day, a man walks into a Manchester police station and calmly confesses: I just killed my father.

DI Thomas Ridpath is called to investigate both cases. But what begins as two unconnected deaths soon unravels into something far more chilling. Behind the polite doors of suburban streets, someone is twisting the very systems meant to protect the vulnerable and turning them into weapons.

As the body count climbs, Ridpath realises he's not chasing a lone killer. He's fighting an entire machinery of death. And the next name on the list is his.