In a deserted tenement in an occupied city, two dead bodies lie on a dusty floor as if they have fallen out fo the air itself. One corpse is cut in half, the other is utterly unmarked.

The city of Ambergris is half ruined, rotten; it's population controlled by narcotics, internment camps and acts of terror. But its new masters want this case closed, urgently. Detective John Finch has just one week to solve it or be sent to the camps. With no ID for the victims, no clues, no leads and precious little hope, Finch's fate hangs in the balance. But there is more to this case than first meets the eye. Enough to put Finch in the cross-hairs of every spy, rebel, informer and traitor in town.

Under the shadow of the eldrich tower the occupiers are raising above the city, Finch is about to come face to face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever. Why does one of the victims most resemble a man thought dead for 100 years, what is the murders' connection to an attempted genocide nearly 600 years ago, and just what the secret purpose of the occupiers tower?

'I can't remember ever reading a book like Finch, Audacious. extravagant. macabre. I'm impressed.' - Stephen R. Donaldson

'Fungal noir. Steampunk delirium. Paranoid spy thriller. a clear signal, if one were ever needed, that VanderMeer remains one of modern fantasy's most original and fearless pioneers.' - Richard K. Morgan

'Wow, what a cool novel. Heavy with shadows and dark as sin detective fantasy. Hell I loved it. In fact, I'm a little jealous.' - Joe R. Lansdale

'Finch just blew me to hell and gone. I loved the meeting of the grime and the sublime and oh so beautifully crafted. Think Cormac McCarthy. with an amazing nod to Lovecraft and still that doesn't capture the spell this novel casts.' - Ken Bruen