Deadhead

Nick Ryan, private detective, has never had so much work - not since his marriage broke up and his wife and daughter went to live with Joe Finlay. It seems to Ryan that these days it's all work and no play – he needs a drink just to think – and there's a cigarette in permanent residence between his fingers. Come to think of it, he's never felt so bad, and not just bad-tempered either, but really sick.

Sick. That's the word he'd use to describe the series of murders that are happening over London – number five they're up to now – the victims always young, homeless kids, always mutilated. A sitting target: rootless, desperate. But it's not Ryan's problem. He isn't involved. No-one's paying him to find the killers. He doesn't care.

But suddenly there's another victim. She's not homeless. She's not dead – yet. She's not even been found. She is Nick Ryan's daughter, Kelly, and the ransom for her release is one million pounds. But why her? When Ryan sees a videotape of Kelly - and her masked, male captors – he begins an obsessive hunt for her and he will not stop. There will be more deaths but he has to find his daughter. Time is running out for both of them...