Someone in Cape Town has chosen a conspicuous murder weapon--a century-old German handgun, with ancient bullets to match, bullets that tear through flesh and bone. The killer has a preferred method: one shot to the head and one shot to the chest, leaving a rapidly rising number of dead. For Captain Mat Joubert, this might be the last chance to prove that his life's slow spiral will not pull him under and sink him at last.

Three men who have nothing in common are killed in an escalating pattern of violence. As the string of vicious killings pushes Cape Town toward panic, Joubert is left scrambling for answers. In this stunning new novel, breakout crime writer Deon Meyer builds an evocative portrait of a man at odds with his history--bent on reclaiming his dignity and determined to find the single thread that weaves together what is otherwise just an assortment of strangers, dead by the same hand. [close]