Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

Death is no stranger to the wintry streets of Mongolia's capital, but the body found in an unlit alley behind Sukh Bataar Square is unusual. It has no head and no hands - and the police have no leads and no suspects.

As the city freezes, three more mutilated bodies are discovered. But Nergui, chief of the Serious Crimes Team, is no nearer to catching the killer. Still without a lead, he can only wait for the murderer to strike again. And again.

Following a trail of dead that leads him from the disused factories of Ulan Baatar's decaying suburbs to the bleak emptiness of the steppes, Nergui begins to suspect that the butchery is the work of more than one hand, and that its savagery conceals an altogether more sinister agenda.

New book never read.

04/10/15 SG