When Benedict left home, it was maybe the first time he'd stood up to his family. It was also meant to be the last. "No contact," he said. "I'm disinvesting."

In all honesty, they weren't sorry to see him go. Ben had never had their talent, never had the family spark. When you run a city--especially the way the Macallans ran theirs--the last thing you need is a reluctant passenger.

But suddenly Ben's learning a lot, far more than his university course could ever teach him. And as his family starts to die one by one--vicious, gruesome, horrible deaths--the chief lesson is that you can't turn your back on blood. There's someone in the city with as much talent as the Macallans, and Ben's connected after all. It's there in his body, it's in his veins; and be it thick or thin, be it still pumping or leaking out, blood is very much darker than water....