In the early hours of a Saturday morning in October, part of a living human being is found outside a Dublin hospital. It is little more than a torso, just the trunk and head of a man, without arms or legs or external genitalia. Surgical intervention has deprived him of sight, hearing, smell, taste and most touch. Soon another torso is found, in the same state, also a former inmate of Barton, this time in Italy. A name keeps cropping up, Gloria, a young girl who was involved with both victims, but who has disappeared. The investigation leads O'Brien down a strange and disturbing road. And at the end of the road is a place even more shocking than he could have imagined. Is it the work of a serial killer? Or is there some other motive? O'Brien explores the trade in illegal organs, and the cult of Muti – the use of body parts in magic or medicine. Running constants throughout the investigation are the worlds of human trafficking and drugs.