Twenty years after he was assigned the seemingly simple job of guarding a dying woman in the aftermath of a vicious acid attack, Alan McAlpine has become a celebrated Detective Chief Inspector. Yet he has never forgotten that first assignment. Still unsolved, the crime remains his obsession and his torment. Now, drafted to lead the search for Glasgow's " Crucifixion Killer" — a murderer who has already killed two women, leaving their mutilated bodies with arms outstretched— McAlpine finds his past and present crashing together— but he'll need to banish the old ghosts before he can stop the monster in the present.

Vivid and compelling, filled with fascinating and complex characters, Absolution is a gripping journey through the rainy streets of Glasgow and deep into one man's soul. Praised by Val McDermid as " dark, vivid and daring," and described by The Washington Post as " among the year's best literary thrillers," Ramsay's debut novel is an intelligent mystery with shocking twists.