Mayor Marsalis's son is found dead in his New York studio, his body stained red and arranged like the cartoon character Linus - with a blanket next to his ear and his thumb in his mouth. Desperate, Marsalis asks his ex-cop brother, Jordan, to investigate. As the killer strikes again and again, Jordan is thrown together with beautiful young detective Maureen Martini, newly moved from Rome to forget her boyfriend's brutal murder. They begin a race against time to unmask the killer - a murderer seemingly obsessed with comic strips. But in New York nothing is ever quite what it seems.

'In my neck of the woods, people like Faletti are called larger than life, living legends' Jeffery Deaver

'Italy's publishing sensation finally arrives in Britain.' Financial Times