Police stations are outdated, and AIs make more efficient detectives, or so says a UK Home Office determined to make cuts.
When the sole witness in a trafficking case is discovered brutally murdered, a brass horseshoe forced between his teeth, Detective Sergeant Rex King is summoned back to London and into a labyrinth of memory, music, and political unrest. From The Clashs ragged 1985 busking tour to the fractured legacy of the anti-nuclear movement, Rex follows threads that tug uncomfortably at his own history echoes he cant quite place, shadows that refuse to settle.
When Rexs boss, DCI 'Lollo' Lawrence, suddenly disappears, and long-buried papers from the Miners Strike surface, he must work alongside a sharp young detective, a seasoned former soul boy, and the National Crime Agencys unsettlingly brilliant new AI. Yet the deeper he travels, the more he finds the investigation folding back on him: professional loyalties strained, personal relationships tested, and accusations from his undercover past threatening to unmake him.
Two murders, one 'misper' and a force under fire has former spycop DS Rex King finally met his match?
