Ill-fated ex-cop Jack Taylor is broke and working nightshifts as a security guard when he receives an unexpected commission – find The Red Book, an infamous blasphemous text stolen from the Vatican archives. The thief, a rogue priest, is now believed to be hiding out in Galway. Despite Jack's distaste for priests of any stripe, the money is just too good to turn down.

It won't be hard for a man with Jack's skills to track down the errant churchman, but Jack has underestimated The Red Book's toxic lure and will be powerless to stem the wave of violence unleashed in its wake – a wave that will engulf Jack and all those around him.

'Bruen has a surreal mind and an unusual writing style of short, sharp, often one-word sentences. It shouldn't work, but it does, delightfully' The Times, Books of the Year.